


Raising Gallys

by Milionking



Category: Hockey RPF, Sports RPF
Genre: Adoption, Babies, M/M, Major life change, Marriage, Married Life, POV First Person, Train Sex, personal assistant
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-27
Updated: 2017-01-28
Packaged: 2018-09-02 15:02:39
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 56,748
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8671981
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Milionking/pseuds/Milionking
Summary: A while back someone asked me to let the Gallys have kids, so here it goes and yes I am actively working on more chapters.Alex Galchenyuk and Brendan Gallagher know that being hockey player parents would create some logistical challenges, but they really want to start a family.  They decide to hire a personal assistant to give them a hand.  For the personal assistant it isn't just about raising the kids.





	1. It's time to start a family

**Author's Note:**

  * For [SunshineAndPosies](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SunshineAndPosies/gifts).



> I as the author am also a character in this story. Keep in mind it is a work of fiction, but only those who really know me well can pick out what parts are true or false. I am acurate about some of the details of the Montreal Canadiens players as I can be based on YouTube videos they've created in the past.
> 
> There will be many chapters of this story, and I knew I had to do it that way when i crossed the 10k threshold. Chapter 1 will be the build up, expect Chapter 2 sometime around Christmas
> 
> Again this is a work of fiction and if you are anyone mentioned here, just laugh at yourself being portrayed or back away.

Brendan is watching Alex eat dinner in deep concentration.  “What’s on your mind Alex?  You look like you are trying to think eat!”

 

“I’ve been thinking about family.  Our family, the one we have yet to create.  I’m thinking I want to be a father.”

 

“A father, eh.  I’ve been having similar thoughts.  I feel like we are going to have challenges given our chosen profession though, how do we have a kid when we aren’t even home ¼ of the entire year?”

 

Alex is thrown off guard; usually he is the one that thinks of these things.  Brendan is usually the one that goes head first into anything, typically the reason Brendan spends more time in the med room than the rest of the team combined.  Brendan continues, “And another thing is how we accomplish this?  The way I see it we have two options, we either ask one of our sisters to have a baby for us or we adopt.”

 

Alex is now completely awestruck, Brendan has given this a great deal of thought.  Alex was giving the idea of one of the sisters having a baby for them with sperm donated by the opposite Gally the most consideration.  “I think we should have one of our sisters do it, either Anna with sperm you donate Bren or Erin with sperm donated by me.  If we go that route we will have kids that look like us.”  Brendan nods in agreement.  “We will have to make arrangements though and set aside some major time and money since fertility drugs don’t come cheap.  The other thing we will need to work out is how to care for a kid when we are on the road.  I’ve been contemplating getting us a live-in personal assistant.  I think for 2 reasons, if we are on the road someone takes care of kids and home and if one of us gets injured someone is here to take care of us so the other can still play.”

 

“I like the idea of the personal assistant, this place looks like a bachelor pad, we never have time to clean unless its summer.”  Brendan is in agreement of hiring this assistant.  Now that they have agreed on that one part of their plan, the next step is getting one of the sisters on board.

 

Since Erin is single, she was approached first.  Brendan and Alex took the opportunity for their new favorite activity, overnight train travel.  They have someone to meet in Toronto, their potential personal assistant.  Brendan has been working on it and their new friends from the US they met on the _Ocean_ last year might have promise.  He mentions this revelation to Alex. “Remember that couple we met on the first train of our honeymoon?  I have good news and bad news, one half of that couple passed away recently, but the hardcore Habs fan half might be in the mood to have a change of scenery.  He’s going to be joining us on the train for an interview.”  They hop on a connecting train in Montreal to Toronto after which they boarded the _Canadian_ for 3 days and 4 nights in a queen sized bed, a full bar, and awesome food.

 

I met Brendan and Alex the previous summer when my late husband and I were taking a bucket list trip on an overnight train.  We had dinner with Brendan and Alex during the first night of the trip from Montreal to Halifax.  After agreeing to keep their travel under wraps we continued to share meals on the train including breakfast and lunch the following day.  We kept in touch all summer with the Gallys and they were nice enough to treat us to tickets and travel to Montreal whenever we wanted.  They even let us stay in the guest room during our trips.  We were appreciative of their friendship, so when my husband passed away and Brendan contacted me about possibly moving to Montreal for a change of scenery, I was ecstatic.

 

The Gallys meet up with me during breakfast as the train traversed the wilderness of the northern Ontario.  Brendan begins, “So you may be wondering why Alex and I invited you on this journey.”  I’m struck by the forwardness of Brendan and how well Alex’s contemplative nature balances him out perfectly.  I’m definitely curious as to what is going on.

 

It’s Alex’s turn to balance out Brendan’s geeky beginning.  “First we both feel horrible to hear of the loss of your husband, he was a very great guy and are glad to have known him for such a short time.  We have been debating starting a family, and we have a life altering request for you, we are in need of a live-in personal assistant.  We feel very comfortable with you.  You will have full room and board in Montreal and a generous salary, as soon as our future children are a couple years old, you will bring them to the games with rinkside seats next to the Habs bench.  We will also hook you up with a lawyer to start the immigration process.  The job will entail some child care, light cleaning of the house, cooking for the family, running a few errands, and taking care of us if necessary.  During the summers when we are off, we still have to train and also generally travel to visit family, we will have the kids during that travel and generally speaking you will just be maintaining the house in our absence and enjoy time to yourself.  You also speak some French which will help you and us tremendously.  That is what we have to offer you.”

 

My mind is wandering, a chance to live with my 2 most favorite hockey players, a chance to live in Canada, and more specifically living in Montreal my favorite city in the entire world, and a chance for limitless skate routes all around the island.  Of all the chance meetings I’ve ever had travelling by train, I never knew that this one would make so many of my dreams come true.  “I’m really impressed by the offer guys, all this happening just because we shared meals on a train a year ago?  I know you have been great friends to us since then.  Offering us tickets to games, and opening your home to us to stay is generous beyond all I have imagined.  I definitely accept your offer and look forward to see you two grow a family.  I only have 2 challenges, I have to sell my house in Michigan and with the help of your lawyer starting the immigration process.”

 

Brendan knew of my challenges when we spoke over the phone and he told me about the potential of moving to Montreal.  That whole conversation was just to get me to change scenery and probably work on my pharmacy degree at McGill.  Brendan can be a sneaky guy though so when they sprung this trip on me I was more than surprised.  It was one of my bucket list dream train trips; I just have never been able to afford it on my own.  After getting an email confirmation of the trip, I knew something was definitely going down.

 

Brendan comments, “We will definitely help with those concerns.  You won’t have to worry about the house right away, we will make sure you can get that taken care of if needs must.”  I offer up my acceptance; Brendan and Alex hug over this accomplishment. “Let’s go celebrate in our room,” Brendan offers, “We have a big leather sofa in there.”

 

I go back to their compartment with them, I actually have the one next to them fortunately with a similar setup.  Brendan and Alex have spared no expense on this trip.  We sit on the sofa where they pop the cork on a bottle of champagne.  A little lighter in the head from the bubbly, I then nervously ask, “What did Alex mean when he mentioned that part of my job will be taking care of you two?”  I’m not sure I’m ready for the answer.

 

Brendan has the answer, “well there will be times when one of us is injured and will need ministrations to return us to health.  We both got injured a couple of seasons ago and the team cannot afford both of us to be out of the lineup for long periods of time.  That is where you come in.  You’ve worked in medicine, and that experience will help us immensely.  Also, since injured players do not go on the road with the team, you may be called upon to offer that half of us some release.”  The last part came with a smile and a wink.

 

“So there are times where I will become a sexual object also?”

 

Alex tries to calm me down with his demeanor, “We will only do that with your permission of course, but judging by your body language right now, I don’t think you’ll mind too much.”  Alex sets down his drink and leans into me, planting his lips against my own.  A few seconds later, warm breath sneaks up against my neck with another pair of lips a moment later.  A moan escapes my lips right when Brendan hits a sensitive spot.

 

They pull away Brendan looks down at twinge in my shorts noting to Alex, “See no problem at all, I think he’ll do just fine!”

 

“Glad I passed that test, but are you going to finish was you started or do I need to go back to my room and fantasize about the rest?”

 

Brendan looks Alex straight in the eyes then back at me smiling, “oh I think we can take care of you just this once.  If we do anything you don’t like or don’t want us to do, let us know.”

 

Brendan cock hungry as ever gets to work getting me hard as a rock.  His mouth is massaging my cock with vigor.  He lets off me for a while to get to work on Alex unleashing his 9 inch uncut monster from his shorts while Alex and I continue to make out.

 

Watching Brendan go down on Alex is getting to me and my cock oozes precum like a faucet.  This intrigues Alex as he reaches down to take it off and give it a taste.  It appears he approves and starts to rub it on Brendan’s ass using it as finger lube.  Meanwhile I start getting on Brendan rubbing his 6 inch cock because I feel it isn’t getting enough attention.

 

Alex then tells me that I am going to open up Brendan for him, hands me a condom and some lube.  I get everything set to go and start to enter Brendan.  I enter slowly to not hurt him, and my head pops in along with the rest of my cock.  I fight the urge to let loose and just stay there for a minute to let the sensation rest.  I pulse my cock a few times, one of my handy traits and it is driving Brendan wild.  Alex apparently notices this with curiosity.

 

While I’m driving Brendan wild I feel some lube and pressure on my own ass as Alex gets ready to fuck me.  I am about to become a Gally sandwich.  Alex pushes in and I wince in pain and pleasure.  It has been some time since I’ve had a cock this big in me.  Every thrust I am giving is a strange one, I am fucking and being fucked.  The amount of musk in the room is overpowering and the urge to come overpowers me and I explode inside Brendan.  The spasms are driving Alex wild.  He slowing pulls his cock out and motions me to get out of his boyfriend so he can enjoy Brendan’s delightfully tight ass.

 

Brendan lays down on his back with his legs in the air just waiting for Alex to enter him.  Alex does with Brendan arching his back in response.  I move to take a hold of Brendan’s pole and jacking it to the rhythm of Alex’s trusts.  Moans are coming from both Gallys as the pace of the fucking ramps up.  The harder and harder Alex thrusts, Brendan moans louder and louder in reply.  Brendan comes forcefully into my hand, Alex moans with pleasure, his breathing becoming harder and more labored.  Alex releases a real loud moan and slumps over Brendan, kissing him hard his trusts have stopped indicating that he just came inside his husband.  The session over, Alex releases himself from Brendan’s clutches and grabs a cloth to clean off all three of us.  We embrace and get our clothes back on as it is now time for lunch.

 

The Gallys have another surprise for me at lunch.  They ask me if I have any Habs stuff.  I reply with a Carey Price jersey that is a little big for me and an afghan that I crocheted myself.  They then tell me that it isn’t enough even though Price is hot, but that I needed some more.  They handed me a bag with 2 t-shirts and 3 jerseys.  There is a Galchenyuk tee and jersey, a Gallagher tee and jersey, and a special jersey with my name and the year 18 on it.  “Welcome to the team” the Gallys said.

 

The rest of the train ride goes without too much incident.  The food was incredible, the company was electric, and the scenery out the train window is breathtaking.  The only times I’ve been this far west in either the US or Canada, I was flying so I missed all the rugged beauty the land has to offer.  I make a mental note to take this trip again; maybe if Brendan and Alex make this trip, I’ll do it with them.

 

We arrive in Vancouver and I thought I was getting ready to say goodbye to my new employers, but they continue with the surprises.  They tell me about the intent of the trip, trying to get Brendan’s sister to carry a baby for them.  I’m told I need to be in on this meeting because, they need to reassure her that the kid that she has will be well attended to.

 

I have to say it was one of the most awkward meetings I have ever been in.  I’m watching two of my friends try to find the words that they apparently haven’t spent the last 3 days thinking about.  Alex looks like he’s going to throw up or is lost deep in thought and Brendan is dumbstruck silent, which I have to admit is unusual for him.  I feel like I’m left holding the bag with an explanation to this dinner meeting.

 

Erin offers out, “Okay brother, you have your husband here and someone I don’t even know at a very nice restaurant on the waterfront of Vancouver.  There clearly is something big you want or we wouldn’t be here.”

 

Brendan retorts, “What!? I make loads now and I can’t treat my sister to something nice?”

 

“Something is clearly up Brendan because your hubby looks like he’s trying to stare down the steak on his plate and your friend there is staring you down like he knows there is some bomb you want to drop.”

 

Alex stops staring at his dinner, someone has to speak.  “Ok Erin, we have been giving a lot of thought about starting a family.  Obviously modern science hasn’t figured out how to do it together so we are going to need some help, and we were thinking your help.”

 

“So what kind of help are you asking for?”

 

“Well, we are hoping that you would be a surrogate mother for us using Alex’s sperm.  That way we have a child that looks more like us.”

 

Erin looks at her brother and brother in law deeply in the eye trying to ferret out the joke in all this news.  “You’re serious about this?”

 

Brendan replies, “More than you will ever know.”

 

Erin starts peppering the Gallys with all the questions.  Why me, how are you taking care of a kid during the season, what happens when you go on the road, are you ready for the responsibility of a kid.  They are all valid questions and Brendan and Alex answer them beautifully, introducing me as their personal assistant and “nanny”.  Now she turns to me.

 

“What qualifications make you an excellent person to help them raise kids?”  My answers are easy.  I work in pharmacy so I have most cures for illness, I am trained in first aid and CPR.  I was a high school teacher for many years and can help their kids during the school years.  I can speak French and English, and I’m an excellent cook.   Erin looks at me intently, and I can feel the sweat dripping down my back.  She seems to be relieved with my answers, looking back at her brother.  “Well Brendan you have seemed to find a qualified candidate to help you out.  I’m inclined to help you because I always help family out, how do we do this?  I’m definitely not having sex with Alex.”

 

“Erin, you won’t have to go through that, if you are free this week, we have some appointments set up with a fertility clinic here in Vancouver that will be helping us out.  It’ll be the most pleasurable doctor’s appointment Alex has ever been to since he hasn’t been allowed to release for two days.”

 

Dinner is over and I can breathe easier now.  The same can’t be said for Alex, Brendan, and Erin.  They all bid me farewell for now.  I’m on my way back to Montreal by plane to meet with my immigration attorney that the Gallys bought for me.  I catch a SkyTrain to the airport from downtown.  Alex and Brendan head off to Brendan’s parents.

 

 

Alex has his consultation at the fertility clinic.  He has to be tested to ensure his sperm count is okay to proceed with insemination of Erin.  He’s offered his donation room and it isn’t the usual boudoir of romance he’s used to.  The porn offered up is all straight man’s porn, not exactly going to do when his type is a 5’9” hockey player named Brendan.  He pops out the door and asks a staff member if Brendan can help him with the extraction.  She says he can only as long as he wears gloves which she will provide to him.

 

Brendan comes into the room, and sees Alex struggling to get hard, the soft touch of his husband’s kiss might move things along.  Brendan starts massaging Alex’s crotch which has the intended effect.  Brendan knows the necessary ministrations to get Alex to cum from here.  In no time flat, Brendan has Alex filling his specimen cup nicely.  They seal up the cup and clean up the room a bit and hand the cup off to the nurse who tells them go wait in the waiting room for about 30 minutes.  Erin has been called back to an exam room where she is being examined for menstrual cycle and the like.

 

Thirty minutes passed, Brendan and Alex join Erin in the doctor’s consultation room.  The doctor provides good news.  Alex’s sperm will be perfect for use; however, he will need make at least 5 more deposits to have enough ejaculate to do the procedure.  Erin should be in the proper part of the cycle by the time he makes the last deposit for insemination.  The doctor points out that there may be more than one cycle of this for a pregnancy to take hold.  The more natural they keep the procedures the more likelihood of success.  Then the doctor orders something that horrifies Brendan, Alex cannot have sex for the next 3 weeks and will report twice a week for his deposit.  Since Brendan helps Alex out with making his deposits that means there is twice a week he can give Alex a hand job.  This is going to be a long month.

 

 

I get to Montreal to meet with my new attorney.  Alex and Brendan have already forwarded my “Bona-Fide offer of employment” which states my salary, working conditions, sponsor employers, etc.  We begin the meeting by filling out my application for permanent residency.

 

I offer up a copy of my birth certificate, US Passport, and driver’s license.  The application then asks me for my entire life history.  My name, my parent’s names, where I’ve ever lived, all my schooling, proof I speak English and/or French (took both tests before leaving Vancouver, tested great in English but my French was considered Intermediate), any chances I already had citizenship in Canada (I could but that would require my dad to declare his), my criminal history, my licenses in the US for pharmacy, and passport photos.  After I felt thoroughly grilled, my eligibility for Quebec is complete and I scored high enough to live there, so now I have to wait for the skilled worker enrollment time, which I have to be at my lawyer’s office at 8am August 16 (1month’s time) to file all my paperwork.  After that I can apply to get my permanent resident cards for Canada.

 

I leave the attorney’s office when I get a text from Brendan. _Gonna need you back in Vancouver for a couple of weeks if you can swing it._   I text him back that I need to go home for a couple of days to get my affairs in order at home, then I would travel to Vancouver.  _The faster you get here the better!_   I fire back a “ _what’s wrong”_ text.  His response, _we need you sooner than later!_

 

I go home to Michigan, announce to my employer that I’m leaving the country permanently and immediately.  I let them know if they have any needs, I will stay on as a consultant but will only be able to remote or phone in.  I do laundry and collect what clean clothing I can and text Brendan that I’m ready to head out.  He gets me a set of flights to Vancouver which I have to travel to Toronto first.  I arrive in Vancouver and find Brendan is already at baggage claim with a hurried look on my face.  “Collect your bags quick, we need to get back to the hotel!”

 

I get in Brendan’s car and we head back to downtown Vancouver driving at a pace that is faster than the speed limit signs permit.  Brendan looks anxious and worried.  I try to get Brendan to talk and all he can mutter is “Alex”.  What’s wrong with Alex?

 

“He’s out of marital commission for weeks!  I can’t last this long, I already feel swollen and in need of release!”

 

Oh, Brendan needs to get laid and now.  I see why I’ve been summoned back.  The “take care of us” part of my job duties is necessary. 

 

We get back to the place where Brendan and Alex have been staying.  As hotels go, this one is a palace.  Our suite has 2 bedrooms, living room, and bathroom.  Brendan shows me my bedroom looking like the moment the door opens, he is going to jump my bones.  Before he does I ask, “Is Alex ok with this?”

 

Brendan replies, “Alex is the one who suggested it!”

 

Alex walks in briefly to welcome me back and to make sure that Brendan stays well attended to.  With Alex’s official blessing, Brendan tackles me to the mattress and plants a wet sloppy kiss on me grinding his already hard cock against me.  Long story short, Brendan gets off and then we meet back up with Alex in the living area.

 

Alex explains that he has to do a number of sperm deposits in a quick succession, so he can’t have sex.  If we had talked about the plan on the train, I could have warned them of this.  They then ask about my immigration grilling, and I tell them I’m due back in Montreal on the 15th of August.  Alex starts booking the tickets and a hotel for the night, then realizes, if all goes well, all three of us will be back in Montreal in 3 weeks.  So we wait to make all the reservations until Alex is done at the fertility doctors.

 

For Alex, it is the longest 3 weeks of his life.  He’s had to watch as someone else satisfies his husband and only being allowed to jack off in a specimen cup every 3 days, at least Brendan gets to help him with that.  He gets to the end of the 3rd week of this torture and the doctors announce they have enough to inseminate Erin at least twice if need be.  She is due to be fertile in 2 days and they will make the first trial with a long 1 month waiting time to determine pregnancy.

 

Alex, Brendan, and I return to Montreal after Erin’s procedure.  Everything looks okay so far, but it takes a month to determine if a pregnancy has started.  I have immigration paperwork to complete, and Brendan and Alex have to continue to train for the season, at least they can have sex again for now making my job slightly easier as I start to make one of the bedrooms in their Montreal townhouse my own.

 

August 16 rolls around and I file my request to become a resident of Quebec.  This is the first step I have to complete before being allowed to complete my permanent resident paperwork.  I was application 100 of the 5000 allowed, and I will get a letter with the result in a few days.  I return to Alex and Brendan’s townhouse to wait out the pregnancy test results which are due in a couple of weeks.  I continue to settle in and start proving myself in the kitchen.  During the day while the boys are out training, I take the opportunity to skate the Lachine every day the weather permits.  In a week, I’ve managed lose 10 pounds and becoming leaner by the day.  Between the boys’ diets and my working out, I hope to be back in shape in the first few months of being here.

 

Two weeks go by and there is a phone call on Brendan’s phone.  It’s Erin and she has her pregnancy test results.  Preliminary results show that she is probably pregnant so their doctor has started her on progesterone to make sure everything stays on the up and up.  Brendan and Alex hold a celebratory dinner out with me.  The preseason is about to start, so they leave to go tend to Erin, and I head home to Michigan to tie up more loose ends like reducing my possessions to a manageable one trip move to stuff that will fit in one small bedroom.

 

While I’m home, I get a letter from the Province of Quebec stating that I have been accepted in the skilled worker program, and that I can now proceed with my expedited entry application.  I call my lawyer to schedule a meeting to complete the necessary next steps and plan my next trip to Montreal.  Brendan and Alex were very generous and paid me for the last month since they made me start early.  They did so under the table this time because I really don’t have work authorization yet.  This finances my life for the time it takes to get into Canada.

 

I meet with my immigration attorney and begin my permanent residency paperwork.  Just like my application for Quebec, it’s the usual long and intrusive look at my life.  My attorney also starts working on my criminal records check that is required by Immigration Canada.  Everything in order, I should have permanent residency status in 30 days.  I call Brendan and Alex to give them the good news, and they share with me that Erin is now officially expecting.  They tell me that only about 10% of all procedures of this type are successful on the first try.  Alex is relieved he doesn’t have to relive the sperm donor procedure again for a while.  The season is about to start in Montreal, but I return to Michigan to finalize my life in the States.  I get my house in selling shape, and list it on the market, moving what I have left to my dad’s house.  He informs me that he hopes this isn’t a mistake.  I tell him everything is now almost firm.  In 30 days I can cross the Canadian border as an American for the last time.

 

A month goes by and I finally receive my permanent residence status as accepted in the mail.  I have to go to a CBP facility to exchange it for my permanent residence card, thus eligible to live and work in Canada.  I tell my dad and brothers that they need to visit at Christmas as I won’t be able to leave Canada for a while.  They agree to do so, and with a very heavy heart, I leave for Sarnia.

 

I drive with all my remaining possessions, my car, a computer, some furniture, and all my clothes.  I arrive at the Blue Water Bridge in less than 2 hours, I’m ready to begin my new life, and probably sped at some point.  I get to the CBP plaza and I have my instructions from Immigration Canada of what to tell the agent.  I hand my US passport to the border agent for the last time.

 

CBP dude: “Where are you from?”

Me: “The US”

CBP dude: “What is your purpose for entry into Canada?”

Me: “I am immigrating to Canada and am here to get my permanent residence card and enter Canada as a permanent resident” (This was on my instruction sheet)

CBP dude: “Thank you for that, proceed to the building marked immigration at the right and enter the building.  Head left for approved permanent residents and present your letter. Best wishes on your new life here!”

Me: “Thank you, sir have a great day!”

 

I enter the immigration building and the process is surprisingly efficient considering it is Canada, the land of bureaucracy.  You enter the building, they take a quick photo, your fingerprints, and hand you the card that is now your approval to live here.  They ask for an address in Canada if I have one.  I provide them with that address, and the clerk frowns and enters it in.  They ask what items I am importing with me and I hand her a list.  She states that the value is low enough for an exemption from import duty.  She officially welcomes me to Canada, explains the absence rule, and wishes me a wonderful life in her country.

 

I stop in Toronto for a quick lunch before moving on to Montreal.  It’s a marathon car ride and I needed the break.  From western Michigan to Montreal is a 13 hour car ride.  In retrospect I should have broken the trip up into 2 days, but I am anxious to start my life in Montreal.  I texted Brendan and Alex, letting them know I’m in Canada now.  They tell me that they will probably be back by the time I get into Montreal, they have their last pre-season game at Bell Center tonight.  I’m hoping to beat them home; no matter I already have a key.  I get out of the metro Toronto area long before rush hour really hits, and make a pit stop in Kingston stretching my legs and enjoying the beautiful scenery of the Kingston Mills Locks, October is the perfect time to move to Canada.

 

Over the next 3 hours I make my way closer and closer to Quebec.  I know I’m getting close because the signs are now starting to appear bi-lingual.  Cornwall can’t be too far away, the gateway to Montreal.  I stop one last time for fuel and something to drink before I leave English and Ontario behind me.  My French may be rusty, but I won’t have to use it at home and I can at least read the road signs.

 

Since I’m not as familiar driving in Montreal (I’ve always used public transit or my own two feet); I switch on my GPS app and ask it for directions to Brendan and Alex’s house, now my new home.  I arrive just before 10 and the house lights are on and it looks like someone is home.  I slowly walk up the steps to the door and open it.  “SURPRISE!!!” the entire Canadiens team screams at me.  Brendan and Alex walk up to me, give me a big group hug to welcome me to my new home.  The party goes late into the night, I’m sure the neighbors appreciated that.  During the party, I get my welcome home gift… season tickets to the Canadiens, rinkside right next to the bench.  I had some clothes already in my closet at their house, and they apparently noticed my small collection of Red Wings Jerseys, I did live in Michigan after all.  Nate was holding up my Kris Draper jersey, chirping at me about my apparent lust for red heads.  Patch finds my Sergei Fedorov jersey and tells Alex that I have a taste for Russians.  Alex glares back at Max and then tells me to burn that jersey.

 

Brendan tells me that, in my absence, Erin had her first ultrasound of her pregnancy and there is a surprise; Erin is having fraternal twins (meaning 2 eggs got fertilized instead of 1).  It is glorious news as then the Gallys may not have to do this a second time for a second kid.  The three of us now have about 7 months before the arrival of the twins, meaning they will be coming right about time for Brendan’s birthday and playoff time.

 

The season starts for the Canadiens and I love every game at home.  I alternate between Galchenyuk and Gallagher jerseys when I go to the home games.  When the games are in Toronto or Ottawa, I find myself taking the train down to see them wearing my personal jersey.  I found out that my season tickets are with all the significant others of the team, and we have all bonded.  When the team is away, we all bond together either for watch parties or dinners.  It’s a unique family style atmosphere that I’m not accustomed to. I feel homesick at times but I count off the days until December when my family is due to visit Montreal.  My brothers tell me they have elected to arrive by train, which given my home location is a 3 days jaunt to Montreal with an overnight stay in Toronto.  My father will be coming by plane after a quick celebration with my sister and her family.

 

 

The months are passing by slowly for Alex and Brendan.  They miss at least one game a month to be with Erin for her prenatal care.  Just before Christmas they learn that both twins will be boys.  Preparations are being made for the 3rd bedroom to be turned into a nursery.  Since its Brendan and Alex, it’s a hockey themed nursery including 2 custom made jerseys each baby and the number 19 which will be the year of their birth.

 

The prospect of becoming fathers for the first time is starting to show on the ice as well as off the ice.  Brendan and Alex’s play is more tempered and mature.  Brendan has been crashing the net with less ferocity.  They seem to be trying their level best to avoid injury.

 

 

Christmas comes in our house and all three families are in town.  We obviously don’t have the space in a townhouse that others would enjoy.  Thankfully, Alex’s mom and sister live in the suburbs of Montreal in a spacious townhouse.  Erin is looking like she’s ready to explode being pregnant with twins.  She has the typical new mother glow that everyone seems to talk about.

 

Alex’s mom is looking forward to having grandchildren at last, planning on levels of spoiling them.  My father is talking to Brendan and Alex trying to get an idea of why I made the decision to go work for them.  He seems at ease that my new employers are treating me well and that I’ve settled in well.  My brothers are star struck that they are having Christmas dinner with two professional hockey players and their families.

 

Most of the Christmas gifts for Brendan and Alex seem to be baby oriented.  They involve cribs, a stroller for twins, running stroller for twins (which will allow me to rollerblade with the kids), baby toys, bottles, etc.  I was surprised when my family was offered gifts from everyone.  I haven’t been able to do this for my family since my late husband passed away because of financial constraints.  Gifts to my family included Montreal Canadiens jerseys, which they are going to need tomorrow.

 

On Boxing Day, the Canadiens are scheduled to play Detroit at the Bell Centre.  The Gallys rented out a suite for the game and invited all the family members to come to the game.  This will be the only game this season where I won’t be sitting by the bench.  My youngest brother is torn, he is more of a committed Red Wings fan than he would be for the Canadiens.  The game seems to be going well until Brendan takes a nasty hit from the front from Henrik Zetterberg.  Zetterberg’s stick goes up underneath the Brendan’s visor blood is now dripping from his forehead.  He rushes off the ice to be stitched up.  For me I already know it is going to be a late night for me.  Alex retaliates by getting in a fight; one he ends up losing.  I now have a really late night ahead of me.

 

One of the trainers comes up and asks for me to come down to the med room.  They have stitched up Brendan and have given me instructions on keeping his stitches clean and dressed, they are the dissolvable kind and will come out on their own.  I was also given my instructions for pain control.  Alex looks worse for wear, I’m certain he will have a black eye and a couple of loose teeth, he can only have food that doesn’t need to be chewed for a couple of days.  I head back up to the suite to bid my family farewell for the evening, then I head back down to get the Gallys home.  I had to stop on the way home for Alex’s temporary diet of protein shakes laced with fruits and vegetables.

 

Once we get home, I feed Alex a couple of aspirin and prepped an ice pack for his eye to keep the pending bruise small, and force Brendan to chug down a few ibuprofen to help stave off a throbbing headache.  I’m trained in pharmacy my answer to any question is, “hey there’s a pill for that!”  I was also given a vial of ketorolac and an injection of hydromorphone in case the pain in Brendan’s head got real intense, and if I needed to use them Brendan got a courtesy trip to the ER for a concussion evaluation.  My hope was to have to return them to the team when all was done.

 

My training really came in handy the following morning, Brendan needed a dressing change on his forehead along with a waterproof sealing bandage so he could shower.  A minor throbbing headache came in the morning and Brendan opted for another dose of ibuprofen.  He knew if I went for the nuclear options, he was going to automatically be riding the pine pony for 2 weeks.  All 3 of us opted for a breakfast shake to make Alex feel better about having a liquid diet for a couple of days.  He also has to wear a dental appliance for 2 days as well making him sound a lot like a Russian version of Sylvester the Cat.

 

Having to feed Alex a liquid diet for 2 days meant I had to get creative with meal times.  Lunch involved a creamy vegetable soup and fruit and protein shake.  Brendan and I got cheese toast to add some substance to our meals.  Dinner involved mashed potatoes, sautéed diced portabello mushrooms, pine nuts, brown gravy, and melted cheese, washed down with a vanilla and peach milkshake made with frozen yogurt (it’s one of the few guilty pleasures on the Canadiens list of approved guilty pleasures).

 

“I ssssswear Adam if (sounded like ith) you have to do this again just shoot me.  I ttthink some real food would be nice,” lisped Alex.  I only had one reply, “Alex, your teeth are too cute to lose.  Although it might improve your cock sucking skills!  Pipe down and enjoy your yogurt cup, when your teeth are stable again we’ll have steak I promise.”  Brendan laughs at Alex’s cute lisp and my snappy comebacks.

 

Brendan’s forehead finally stops irritating him and he returns to the lineup along with Alex who can now eat harder food again.  As promised I cook them steak and steamed some broccoli topped with shaved parmesan cheese to go with it.

 

December gives way to January.  Since New Year’s is a home stretch for the Canadiens, there is a party chez Gally with most of the team accepting invitations to join us; Anna, Alex’s mom, Brendan’s mom, and my dad round out the invitation list.  I blindly trusted Brendan with a knife to chop up cheese, fruit and crudité with; Alex is on the other side of the island laughing at Brendan.  “Look Chucky, I carved a more beautiful pumpkin than you over there.”  I snicker, but Alex has to help me cook since Brendan’s cooking skills usually result in a visit by the fire department, personally I think it’s because it gives Brendan a chance to check out and find out how hot the firemen really are.

 

Rounding out the spread tonight includes about 10 different cookies using my awesome baking skills and inexhaustible supply of butter, bruschetta, pinwheel rolls in a half dozen styles, some meat and cheese stuffed puff pastry, Alex made enough palmeni to feed half the city, I got Brendan to dice up cheese to go with some crostini, and a full amount of alcohol.

 

I run the countless number of dishes we created through the dishwasher and clean up the house and lighting scented candles until the entire downstairs smelled less like a restaurant and more like a home.  Finally feeling like I earned my salary; we all head up to get ready for the party.  I dressed up a smidge wearing a button down shirt and slacks.  After my first month in Montreal, I had to buy a new wardrobe because I lost 30 pounds and started looking more like the size I should, now a much leaner 179 since Alex and Brendan have a most amazing gym in the basement and a rink in Brossard to skate.

 

The party starts and many of the Canadiens are impressed with my new look.  So much so that I get the impression that Beaulieu is actually trying to flirt with me.  While I think he is cute and has a nice ass; his personality to me leaves a lot to be desired.  Since he is good friends with Brendan, I just remain polite and try to send brainwaves to Alex to come rescue me.  My brainwaves apparently got intercepted by Patch and Pateryn who come over and start talking about the football team from their alma matter University of Michigan.

 

I spot my father talking to Alex intently writing something down.  I’m guessing the palmeni really hit the spot.  My father having the gift of gab is easily chatting him up.  Excusing myself I head over to see what is going on, only to find out that Alex and my dad are now talking about how well I have been received in Montreal.  “Your son is amazing, he works pretty hard at making our lives a lot easier,” Alex praises as I enter the conversation.  My dad looks at me and asks me if I miss Michigan.  I reply that I only miss family and that my new city is much more amazing.  I’ve dreamed of living here since our first visit in 1999.

 

I recognize Jeff Petry off in the distance and drag my dad along before he starts in with my embarrassing childhood.  He and I could actually have been neighbors at some point since we both lived in the same city at the same time.   Jeff grew up in Farmington Hills, Michigan, I lived in neighboring Farmington until I was a teenager.  In fact, I remember watching his father Dan play for the Detroit Tigers on numerous occasions including the home opener of the 1984 World Series season.  We chat about our old hometown, since I still have family there I am familiar with many of the places he references.

 

As the countdown for the new year begins, I start to remember all that I’ve lost and gained during the year.  The turn of events in my life is extremely profound.  I could never have imagined that at the same time last year I was grieving the loss of my husband along with knowing that months later finding myself living in Canada with 2 professional hockey players that I’ve been fortunate to call friends.

 

 

A couple of months later, Alex suffers the worst injury of the season taking a slash to his right leg, fracturing the major bones in his lower leg.  While the fracture doesn’t require surgery to heal properly thanks to the shin pads taking most of the force, it does essentially end Alex’s season.  Now begins a long 8 weeks of taking care of Alex; Brendan will be away with the team the first week while Alex adjusts to hobbling around the house on crutches.  Thankfully Alex is not in much pain, just not able to move too well.  Since he can’t do leg workouts for a while, he keeps his core and upper body in shape down in the basement gym.  He would also meet with one of the trainer’s in Brossard daily for whatever PT they can do, with me having to drive until Alex regains use of his right leg.

 

The long injury heal time for Alex means that he and I have to travel out to Erin’s prenatal appointments.  She is slated for a c-section on May 6th unless she naturally gives birth before that date.  In the interim, Alex and I stay at the Gallagher’s residence outside Vancouver until the twins are born.  Since the Canadiens do not make the playoffs this year due to a fluke goal that Detroit scores to slide into the last wild card spot, Brendan joins us about a week after the season ends to continue the baby waiting game.


	2. Twins Meet World

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So this chapter is from my complete POV and entirely first person. I get a surprise love interest in this chapter 2, which means there may be a break from the Gallys coming up to develop that relationship. There will be a few other surprises along the way.

April turns into May that year with the Vancouver weather acting more like monsoon season rather than the spring I am used to in Michigan and Montreal.  Erin is now on bedrest until she gives birth to the twins.  She checks into the hospital on May 5th with no sign of labor and begins prepping for her c-section the next day.

 

Doctors prepare Erin for surgery, Brendan and Alex are keeping her company behind the surgical curtain doing their level best to no look on the other side of the curtain.  They may have shed their own blood on the ice, but neither is quite interested in seeing Erin’s.  About 20 minutes after the doctors first cut into Erin, the first of the twins is born and dubbed Sasha Alexandrovich Gallagher Galchenyuk.  Ten very tense minutes later, while the first son is being tended to, Alex and Brendan listen on as the second twin is extracted from Erin’s womb.  The threesome welcome Brendan Alexandrovich Gallagher Galchenyuk to the world.  The babies are cleaned up and wrapped in blankets then handed over to their new fathers.  Their names fit two traditions, Alex is celebrating his Russian heritage by having his name as their first middle name since it was his swimmers that conceived them.  The second tradition is Canadian in that their second middle name represents the other parent’s last names (sometimes but no always the case).

 

The twin named after Brendan was amply chosen, he never shut up for the first hour after he was born.  His brother Sasha on the other hand has a quiet and contemplative demeanor acting more like Alex.  Of all the birthday presents that you could ever have given Brendan, I can tell by the larger than normal smile on his face that it’s been the best birthday he’s ever had.

 

I was handed the twins to hold one at a time and I spent a lot of time looking for features that reminded me of their dads.  Sasha it appears will share his namesake’s hair, but features eyes that remind me of Brendan’s stunning baby blues.  I handed Sasha back to Alex for his first feeding and was handed Brendan in exchange.  Brendan on the other hand has a head full of dishwater blonde hair and what almost look like Alex’s slightly darker and more serious eyes.  I didn’t get time to see them in detail as for the first time since he was born, he fell asleep in my arms.

 

According to Canadian law, Brendan and Alex are both listed at the parents for Sasha and Brendan.  Erin will not appear on their birth certificates, Alex and Brendan decide to thank her in another way, they are planning on making her the twins’ godmother, a title that she accepts with great delight.  According to the official record, Sasha was born at 7:15am weighing in at 3.1kg (6.82lbs) and measuring about 45cm.  Brendan his brother was born at 7:27am weighing in at 2.9kg (6.38lbs) and measuring 40cm.  True to life the tiny “Alex and Brendan” share something else in common with their parents.

 

Sasha and Brendan are cleared to leave the hospital the following day and I get squashed into the back seat of the rental SUV with 2 car seats for the trip to the Vancouver Via Rail station.  The twins are dressed in little sweat pants and their personalized Canadiens jerseys both wearing the number 19.  Since the twins are only a couple of days old, we were told that air travel was not recommended to avoid damage to their ears.

 

Once on the train, Alex, Brendan and I trade off spending mealtimes in the sleeping cabin and ordering room service to feed and change the twins.  Over the first few days it becomes abundantly clear that you can tell when Sasha needs a diaper change just in facial features alone and.  If Shasha wants a bottle, he’ll grab it away from you, he’s every bit Alex in personality than I think Alex will admit.  Baby Brendan is a little more vocal with his diaper habits.  Let’s face it, baby Brendan is a little more vocal period, a personality that has developed and Alex and I have yet to run out of chirps for his grown counterpart, usually leaving Brendan with his head in his hands and a smile that is bigger than the St. Lawrence.  The weather is sunny and much more tolerable this time of year,  After 4 days of train travel, we arrive back in Montreal and take the metro back to Champs-Mars the closet station to the Gallys’ townhouse.  Brendan took his namesake and I carried Sasha in his car seat.  In all reality Alex got the raw end of the deal, he had to carry the luggage looking more like a pack mule.  Personally, I think he took on the challenge just to say he did some training after his respite from the broken leg. 

 

Once home, we dumped the luggage and cleaned up for dinner time at the Galchenyuk’s residents.  Alex’s parents and his sister have been blowing up Alex’s phone since the day the twins were born.  We originally thought that we would invite Alex’s family to our house, since we haven’t been home in so long, but then quickly realized that we had no food in the house to cook.  Quite frankly, I was very worn out from travelling and child care to cook anyway, so when someone else offered to do my job for me, I was ecstatic.  Alex and Brendan had offered to take the kids by themselves and give me a night off, but Alex’s mom insisted that I join them as she felt not letting me come along would be rude.  It also gave me am excuse to ignore Nate’s attempts to woo me for the second time in less than 6 months.  I am going to have to indulge his advances with a date eventually just to see if his personality on the ice is different than in real life, but I’m not quite ready to jump in the dating pool just yet and sex hasn’t really been a problem since I’ve had to keep Alex entertained when he was on IR and away from home at the end of the season up until Brendan joined us in Vancouver.

 

We arrive at the Galchenyuk’s residence around 7 and are greeted at the door with Alex’s mom taking Sasha and Alex’s dad taking Brendan.  I trudged up the stairs with the Canadiens themed diaper bag that Bergevin gave the Gallys after finding out the twins were born.  The new grandparents monopolized the twins attention until Brendan screamed for a feeding.  After learning what cry indicated each of Brendan’s needs, I whip out a bottle which was swiped out of my hand by Anna (now I know where Sasha gets that trait from).  I get out a second bottle to test whether Sasha was hungry too.  With Sasha it was a waiting game, if he was hungry he reached out for the bottle and took it from you.  Since he is in Alex’s mom’s arms I pass the bottle over him and sure enough Sasha reaches out for it assisted by his grandmother’s touch.  I also hand over a burping cloth for each twin.

 

The twins passed out quickly after their dinner we put them back in their car seats and in the guest room with a baby monitor, then we all sat down to eat.  Aside from a grandkid visit, this was also Brendan’s birthday dinner with all his favorite dishes that Alex’s mom serves up and finished off with a birthday carrot cheesecake, also Brendan’s favorite.  Just as dinner finishes up, Brendan starts stirring on the monitor indicating to me that it is time for a diaper change.  I grab the bag and head upstairs for the guest room.  No sooner than I finish changing Brendan, I look over to Sasha, who is now sporting a look like he’s in serious concentration.  Knowing that his full concentration is on filling up his own diaper, I wait for that look to relax and change him too.  It’s reassuring to know that keeping these two on the same schedule will make life a lot easier on me.

 

Since Sasha and Alex were born in the offseason, I get afternoons off to exercise and enjoy Montreal.  I finally give into Nate’s advances and take him out skating along the Lachine Canal one of those afternoons.  He is cute and does have a gorgeous ass, much to my surprise my first impressions of him were wrong.  He actually is fairly nice outside of hyper competitive defenseman asshole like on-ice demeanor.  The skate along the canal and back to Angrignon metro station was actually quite nice.  He grew up in Strathroy, which is a small town similar to the town near Grand Rapids where I spent my adolescence.    For a big time NHL player, he certainly is more grounded like Alex with a few flecks of Brendan’s spontaneous tendencies.

 

After our long 16 mile skate, we change footwear and catch a metro ride back to downtown.  Nate then takes me to his favorite Italian restaurant for lunch, admitting that he could eat nothing but pasta for decades.  As dates go, I probably was much more nervous with this one than I can ever recall being.  The age difference was glaring at me, being almost exactly 15 years older than him.  I also felt really short too with the top of my head at the bottom of his lips.  We spent the time conversing about small town life, the twins, and the things we love and hate about Montreal.  To be clear, the list of things I hate about Montreal is really, really, really short.  We get done with lunch, and I have to get back to work.  We take the metro back to the Gally’s since we left Nate’s car there.  We get back inside and the unexpected happens, Nate bends down a little and pulls me in for a kiss good-bye.  It was sweet and passionate with a major hint of garlic, my dick stiffens quickly and I have to remind it that sex comes later in a relationship, although Nate is really really really HOT!  Nate follows me as I leave to check in on the twins only to find that a note that Alex and Brendan have taken them to grandma and grandpa Galchenyuk’s for a few hours and that my time off is extended to 8.  Nate was reading over my shoulder and whips me around to kiss me and drags me off to my bathroom for our after workout shower that we never had.

 

Never in my wildest dreams, did imagine that I would find myself potentially dating a Montreal Canadien, it was already surreal enough to be living with 2 of them and raising their children.  Here I am though, undressing in my bathroom with an already naked Nathan Beaulieu in front of me.  If my jaw could have stretched to the floor, I’m sure it would have, any thoughts I had of speaking were lost.  He leads me in closer to him, and kisses me gently.  Losing all will, my cock decides it really is time to play when it brushes up against Nate’s thigh sending an electric spark straight to my mouth which involuntarily releases a very audible moan.  Nate smiles into his next kiss just as his package pokes into my stomach he’s just as hard as I am.  He’s not huge like Alex, but certainly not small either. 

 

He gets the water up to the temperature we want and we step into the steamy warmth.  After we both douse our stenches off under the water, he gets my body wash out and starts soaping me up.  The gesture alone is intimate and soft until he gets to my dick, spending an immense amount of time there leaving me a moaning, whimpering mess.  He massages gently, causing moans a groans and me to swear in French.  This apparently was Nate’s cue to keep going as he rubs a finger along the crack of my ass, finding the hole and massaging it.  I’m now a whimpering mess and it doesn’t take long before I’m cumming with Nates ministrations.  I finish rinsing off and turn to Nate.

 

Just like Nate, I am massaging soap all over his torso taking my time around his nipples leaving him a gasping moaning mess.  As I get lower on his torso, I learn that he is almost a ticklish as I am as I can visibly see his abs contact at the sensation.  I get all the way down to his already hard uncut tool.  As I massage, I can tell his head is particularly sensitive with each tug.  I move my other hand to his ass to see if he responds like me, much to my surprise he does, and within a minute he comes forcefully onto my stomach and my hand.  We rinse off, get dressed and head down to prepare a dinner.

 

Nate admits to me that he does not cook in the least.  I decide that I am going to put on a cooking show for him by making a pesto pasta dish that will be topped with sliced chicken breast and parmesan cheese.  Nate is next to me taking feverish notes as I cook.  I clean up the dishes Alex and Brendan left me and the ones I created while the breaded chicken is baking in the oven.  I then set a table with a candle as the centerpiece and serve up dinner.  Nate was pleasantly surprised.  “How did you learn to cook like this, this meal is amazing!”

“I’ve been cooking for my family since I was a teenager, the challenge is that I only know how to cook for large families.  When I was single, I used to make all my meals in one day then cook them up over the course of the week like TV dinners.  I learned a lot of new recipies after I graduated from college.  Working in pharmacy also helped too because I learned a lot about following recipies to the letter.”

 

“Well Adam, this is fanstastic don’t change a thing and I think I may have to join you guys for dinner more often.”  Nate replies with a smile.

 

As we were eating, the front door opens and I hear footsteps walking back in.  Alex and Brendan shuffle in.  When they come into view I notice that they are childless.  “My parents decided to keep the kids for the night to give us a night of marital fun.  What do we have here?  You and Nate finally hit it off?”

 

I reply with a smile raising an eyebrow and looking at Nate, “let’s just put it this way I’m open for a second date if he is.”

 

“You up to skate tomorrow too?” Nate replies.  I can’t resist, “It’s a date.”

 

“Well you two, behave we are going to catch up on some sleep and each other.” Brendan grins passionately kissing Alex.  “Come on Sasha, to bed with ya!”  With that comment Alex and Brendan run off to their bedroom with a speed I haven’t seen since the end of the season.

 

We finish off dinner, clean up our plates and start the dishwasher for the night.  I feel the warm of Nate brushing up behind me, “So do you think we can go upstairs to thank you for the delicious dinner you made me?”  Nate is grinning broadly with a sly demeanor that makes him even more cute that he was already.

 

We get back to my room, and Nate wastes no time in getting me on the bed and naked.  My cock responds to his touches by making a large wet spot in my boxer briefs.  He keeps this up, I’ll cum in no time flat.  All I can pant out is, “I want!”  My brain stops thinking in English.

 

“What do you want babe?”

 

“Je veux te foutre!” Why does that roll of my tongue now?  Nate smiles and apparently understands because he starts getting ready for me.

 

“Swearing at me in French is so god damn hot!  Why don’t you get some fingers in my ass and open me up.  I want you so damn bad, I’ve wanted you since Alex’s New Years party.”

 

I get Nate all opened up and reach for a lube and condom.  I remove my fingers and Nate flinches at the sudden emptiness that ensues.  “Get that cock in me stud, fill me up.”

 

As I push in, Nate is hot, tight, and hungry.  It takes all my brain power and will not to cum immediately.  The sensations are just too intense.  I bottom out and hold out for a minute so I can thrust.  Since that takes time on me, I keep swelling my cockhead inside Nate which is brushing his prostate sending moans out Nate’s mouth along with a string of “fuck” repeated over and over.

 

I finally get to the point where I can begin pounding Nate’s ass, I have to slow down every minute or so to avoid orgasm too fast.  Finally deciding to go past the point of no return, I start jacking Nate’s tool until he cums loudly screaming.  I’m hoping that Brendan and Alex didn’t hear that because there will relentless chirping in the morning I’m certain.  The pulsing warmth sends me over the edge, then I slump down onto Nate, kissing his neck passionately.  After slipping out of Nate, I walk into my ensuite bathroom for a cloth and to dispose of the condom.  I wipe off Nate and lay down next to him.

 

“Mind if I stay the night?” Nate asks.

 

“Only if you fuck me in the morning,” I reply.

 

For the first time in a while, I feel like a lot is going right in my life.  I cuddle up to Nate and we drift off to sleep.

 

We wake in the morning to the smell of coffee and pancakes.  Since the smoke alarms haven’t gone off yet, I assume Alex is at the stove.  Nate and I take care of each other’s morning wood, get dressed, and go down stairs to face the music.

 

Brendan is at the breakfast bar smiling at me widely, “You move fast Adam, I’m impressed.  You had been cold to Nate’s advances for so long until the other day.”

 

“Well I have to say my first impressions were wrong, he’s a pretty nice guy.” I say with a smile on my face.

 

“It sounded like you were pretty into each other last night.” Alex chimes in. “You were louder than we were, and Brendan here can get pretty vocal, which one of you was swearing in French?  WAIT, never mind I know.”  Alex shoots a knowing glance at me.  I blush like crazy.

 

“So we are childless until this afternoon, then Brendan and I are headed out to Vancouver for a couple of weeks to let the other grandparents spoil Sasha and Brendan, what are you two love birds up to?”

 

Nate quickly brews a plan in his head.  “Well we are going to get our blades on and pound out a few miles on asphalt.  Might head over to Parc Jean-Drapeau and take lunch with us in Adam’s skate pack.”

 

Brendan looks at Nate, “You are such a romantic sap, behave you two.”  Nate blushes and I lean over to kiss him.

 

Nate ends up staying with me almost the whole time during Brendan and Alex’s vacation.  We get to know each other real well and I continue to teach him how to cook, he's built up quite the library.  During the last week, we decide that we were going on a road trip to meet his family in Strathroy.  I have only ever driven through the town to get to Stratford, stopping in town once for gas.

 

Nate is full of surprises on the road trip, holding my hand most of the way once we got well outside Montreal.  We eat lunch in Cornwall, when I get surprise number 1.  We have tickets to see Hamlet in Stratford.  Our first night will be in a bed and breakfast there, with a matinee performance the following day, ending with dinner at his parent’s house.

 

It has been a long time since I’ve been to Stratford, but I have not lost my love for the performances that are put on during their Festival.  Nate sitting next to me with the appearance of the same enthusiasm fills me with a joy I haven’t had in a long time.  I’m a firm believer that my personality fits my star sign (Sagittarius) which Nate and I both share.  You can see us visually enjoying the experience together.

 

We get to Strathroy a little after 6 in the evening, and Nate’s parents are in the driveway waiting for us.  Carmen and Jacques are just as modest as Nate which relaxes me quite a bit.  Being introduced as Nate’s boyfriend with their loving support is something I’m not used to.  The in-laws of my previous marriages were distant and unsupportive.  With Carmen looking at me up and down, “I’m so glad you finally agreed to go out with Nate, he hasn’t stopped talking about you since you moved into Canada.  He really is a nice boy, just keep in mind he can be a little headstrong.”

 

It’s a trait that Nate and I both share, but in the end we usually work it out without giving up too much ground.  Nate seems to want to spoil me rotten, another part of our relationship that I’m not used to as I’m used to being the primary wage earner in my previous relationships, and in general I prefer to be self-supporting.  After one argument about Nate paying for everything, he finally relents, the result was that I ended up paying for half the gas to get Nate’s BMW down here.

 

We eat dinner with Nate’s parents, and they tell me all about his more embarrassing moments as a youth.  His parents also get to know me and ask me how I’m liking my new home.  It’s a pleasant and engaging conversation that went by quickly.  After eating a rich homemade dinner, Nate and I get our skates out, a couple of pucks, and a net and take turns making penalty shots at an open net.  Nate obviously outscoring me 3 to 1, but he’s a pro and I’m a novice at best.  It was a fun time which we promise to have more of the next day, possibly inviting some neighborhood kids the opportunity to play 3 on 3 with Nate and I.

 

We head into bed and I’m half expecting Carmen to split us up for the night.  She insists that we share a bed together that night.  I had no intention of putting up a fight.  We did behave ourselves that night, tired from our after dinner hockey practice, and fell asleep cuddled together.

 

After a lovely breakfast of whole wheat pancakes and fruit, we hit up the neighborhood to find some kids to join us for street hockey.  Who is going to say no to playing hockey with the hometown NHL star even if he plays for Montreal?  We quickly find 4 more players and by sheer luck 2 goalies.  I head up one team though I admit I’m no Nate Beaulieu.  The kids selected for my team look visibly deflated.  Nate ends up taking it easy on my team, and my kids end up holding together beating Nate’s team 5-4, we actually tied 4-4 but held a 3 round shootout to determine a winner.  Nate and I hang around for a few minutes while he signs autographs for the kids that played before we take back off to Montreal.

 

I do end up having more work to do around Brendan and Alex’s house for the rest of the summer so the Gallys can train for the upcoming season.  Nate comes over occasionally to workout with me in the basement and often with a takeout lunch in tow.  I get about 3 afternoons off during the week to go skating on the canal averaging about 17 miles a skate.  After dating for 2 months, I earn my 5th Montreal Canadiens jersey, this one is Nate’s.  I’m now officially a HAB (Husband and Boyfriends, it’s the male equivalent of WAG).

 

When the season rolls around, I get to attend home games as Alex’s mom takes the twins so I can go to the game.  When the team is away, I take the twins with me to the watch parties that the other wives and girlfriends put on.  Patch’s wife particularly loses it over the twins, and essentially takes them off my hands for the entire evening.  Most watch parties find the twins being passed around.  Over the season, it becomes evident that the twins prefer me over the other women.

 

During the off-nights in the season when Alex and Brendan are at home, I get the night off to spend with Nate.  Our relationship continues to grow stronger even though it is not possible to be joined at the hip all the time.  Looking forward to the December schedule, it appears the Habs are at home but playing on both our birthdays on the 1st and 5th.  Alex and Brendan had made plans for the 4 of us to celebrate Nate and I’s birthdays  on the 3rd during an off night.  Anna volunteered to babysit.

 

I turn 42, and spend my evening at Bell Centre sitting right behind the bench.  Nate and I share glances occasionally as I’m wearing his jersey.  He gets a Gordie Howe hat trick that night.  His assist was to Brendan’s goal which was also assisted by Alex on the power play.  Unlike most home games where I would meet up with Brendan and Alex for the ride home, I head down to meet up with Nate.  He said he has a special surprise for my birthday.

 

I see him outside the locker room talking to RDS about his game that evening, he motions me over then tells the reporter that “I played like I did tonight because of the love and support of this guy right here, I love you Adam and happy birthday.”  I could actually feel the blood drain from my face, and I get light headed with Nate there to hold me up.

 

Nate’s interview then takes a whole different turn since he essentially came out of the closet on camera.  My face is now associated with being Nathan Beaulieu’s love interest.  I don’t remember the rest of the questions that were offered up during the interview, all I could think about was running out of the Bell Centre at a speed that would make a cheetah jealous.   Nate just tells me to wait right where I am while he finishes up in the locker room.  He comes out about 15 minutes later in jeans and a Canadiens hoodie instead of the game suit he was wearing when we left the Gallys’ house for the game.  In each hand is a pair of skates.  The sneak took them out of my bedroom the last time he was over, no wonder I couldn’t find them this afternoon when I wanted to go out to Brossard.

 

“Lace up love… we got the ice sheet to ourselves tonight.”  Nate hands my skates over to me.  He looks around at the equipment.  You can use one of Gally’s sticks since you are about his size.  He grabs a bucket of pucks that the equipment guys left him, and we head out onto the fresh sheet of ice the Zamboni just polished off.  The last time I skated in an arena was at home in Grand Rapids during one of the promoted post-game skates.

 

Nate takes a minute to sign autographs to the few straggling fans.  After the arena is mostly empty, Nate dumps the bucket of pucks off at center ice, and we skate off some penalty shots at an open net.  My accuracy on ice is far superior to asphalt, Nate and I end up in a tie.  We skate a few laps around the ice hand in hand, we stop at center ice, Nate leans into me and kisses me passionately.  “I mean what I said to that reporter Adam, I do love you.”  I gasp out, “I love you too Nate.” We clean up our pucks and put our equipment back; passing Alex and Brendan who are sitting on the bench watching us and cooing as we pass by.

 

“You are one to talk Gally, you proposed on the ice in the 3rd period of the game if I remember correctly.” Nate chirps.

 

“Gonna duplicate my effort there Nater?” Brendan replies.

 

Nate looks at me passionately then looks back at Brendan, “Nah… I don’t need an audience of 20,000 to confirm my taste in men.  I already know I love him.  In fact about 40 minutes ago, any TV on RDS found out about us.”

 

We go out to eat that night after leaving Bell Centre.  It was Alex, Brendan, Nate, and I.  We ended up at a sports bar of all places, and several people there that saw the interview are coming over and congratulating Nate and I.  I was prepared for a shit storm of homophobia, but this is Montreal home to the largest gay community in the world.  I have never been over to Beaudry yet, but I’ve been told to stop there occasionally even though it really isn’t my scene.

 

Over the coming days and months, I actually look forward to the relative quiet solitude of home.  To avoid drawing attention to myself at home games, I go back to wearing a Galchenyuk or Gallagher jersey afraid that my Beaulieu jersey would garner too much attention since I sit behind the bench during the game.  Nate understands this decision and I compromised by making sure I wear his to WAG and HAB parties as they are now called since I started joining them and Nate announcing our love for each other.

 

The Christmas eve party at Alex’s takes on a new meaning this year.  I actually have a date at the party and my family is here to celebrate the holidays with me.  The Habs start a road stint this year, playing the Winter Classic in Toronto against the Leafs this year with a game in New York on the 27th and in Pittsburgh on the 30th.  Getting to spend the holiday with Nate allows me to introduce Nate to my dad.  I had already explained what happened to my mother to Nate before the party, so there were no awkward questions about her absence at the party.  My brothers kept giving me crap about being so short next to Nate and acknowledging our glaring height and substantial age differences.  All in all my family approves of Nate, not that I really needed it, but it helps nonetheless.

 

The Habs steamroll the Leafs in the Winter Classic by a score of 8-2, Auston Matthews is the only scoring player for the Leafs the whole game.  Alex got a hat trick, and even Nate scored a goal off an assist from Shea Weber.  I was able to bring the twins along for the game this time since the game is during the day.  I made sure they were dressed in their Canadiens jerseys and bundled up for the lovely -5 degree Celsius cloudy day at hand.  Sasha is his usual quiet self only perking up with each Hab goal.  Brendan fell asleep after his namesake scored his goal.  I cheered loudly when Nate scored his goal late in the 3rd.  I get down to the team tunnel with the twins in tow.  They are substantially heavier than they were when we brought them home 7 months ago.  Both are now teetering on walking.  Since they crawl now, I find there is nothing sacred in the house.  Sasha is the explorer and moves through the house better than my cat Talon.  Brendan became enamored with Talon when he got clearance to come over this fall.  As long as Brendan pets him nicely Talon just lets him do his thing.

 

The season continues on in a haze of diaper changes, bottle feedings, watch parties, and grandparent visits. In early March, Sasha and Brendan start taking their first steps which I had to Skype to Brendan and Alex since they were on the road with the team, even Nate sat in amazement on the call.  Sasha has also started to babble.  In which language we aren’t sure yet since the twins are exposed to Russian, French, and English.  We also started transitioning from formula to baby food in the beginning of February.  Unsurprisingly Sasha’s favorite foods are beets, squash, and rice while Brendan prefers carrots, applesauce, and oats.

 

The Canadiens earn a playoff spot this year earning home ice advantage for at least the first round.  Since they were home for the twins and Brendan’s birthday, we celebrate it with both the Gallaghers and Galchenyuks at our townhouse.  Sasha and baby Brendan took turns destroying their birthday cake, getting more of it on them than in their mouths.  The grandparents showed little resistance of spoiling their grandchildren, showering them in a flood of new toys.  With Brendan’s proclivity to making messes, I’m sure keeping toys cleaned up will become my second full time job especially since I have to begin potty training the boys soon.

 

The series goes to game 7 at the Bell Centre, and is on my one year anniversary with Nate.  At the end of the game, I wait for Nate and the Gallys outside the locker room, when Nate comes out in street clothes and skates holding mine in his hand.  I always liked our post game skates since it’s the closest to being an actual NHL player I can get.

 

Nate leads me out onto the ice along with Chucky and Gally, but instead of slapping pucks around, we take a couple of laps before stopping on center ice.  Nate kneels down and takes a small box out of his pocket.  Knowing what is about to happen, tears are streaming down my face.

 

“Adam, since the day I laid eyes on you I knew you were the one for me.  You have a big heart and challenge me to be better every day.  You have no idea how much joy you brought to my life on that first date a year ago.  I can never stop loving you, will you marry me?”

 

I would be lying if I said I wasn’t crying the whole time, ok I was.  Nate is visibly choking back his own tears.  I also look over at Brendan and Alex, Alex is having difficulty remaining stoic and Brendan is balling his eyes out on Alex's shoulder.  I look back down at Nate giving him my affirmative response in great excitement.  Nate shoots up and kisses me passionately at center ice.

 

As we skate off the is, Alex catches up to me, “so does that mean we need to get a new personal assistant?”  I tell him that I am not leaving their employ anytime soon, but my ability to take care of Alex and Brendan during times of injury will no longer involve sex without Nate’s blessing.  I have done open relationships in the past, and they usually end in disaster, so I have no desire to repeat the experience unless my partner is really on board.

 

We take off to a local 24 hour poutinerie for dinner and drinks to celebrate our engagement.  After raising my cholesterol by about 300 points, Nate and I decide to head back to Nate’s place to work it off.  The Habs have a 3 day break before the 2nd round starts, Alex and Brendan deciding to spend some quality time with the twins gives me the rest of the night off.

 

After some pretty steamy sex, Nate kisses me and tells me that he’s so glad I said yes.  He’s been looking for someone like me for so long, but not able to date in the Montreal limelight.  The night I came home in Montreal for the first time, Nate took one look at me and knew he had to get to know me more, hence the courting at New Years.  I admitted to Nate that I had my reservations since I only knew of his PR persona.  I had no idea he was so much like me sharing many of my same interests.  We even agree to spend our vacation this year taking a cross-country train tour of Canada, giving us plenty of time to plan our wedding.

 

The next morning I wake up to find Nate attempting to make breakfast.  He’s got a card sitting next to him making French Toast, and I have to admit.  He hasn’t burnt down the kitchen and even more surprising hasn’t burnt breakfast at all.  I grab a few apples out of the fridge and start cutting them up, mixing them with sugar and cinnamon to top our breakfast with.  I call my dad with the new of the previous evening, he’s very happy for me and wants to know the date as soon as we decide it.  We sit down to breakfast, and Nate looks at me and asks, “How about we get married like the Gallys did?”

 

I swallow my bite hard, surprised I didn’t choke.  “You mean before the home opener in front of 20,000? Like they did?”

 

“Well I think we can forgo the 20,000 and do it on an off night, but just using it as the venue.  Invite the team, our families, and our friends?”

 

The smaller crowd I would support, and thankful he doesn’t want to get married in front of the entire city.  I understood that more for the Gallys since they are both local celebrities, but until a few months ago, I was a relative unknown and enjoyed that anonymity.

 

“Think about it, eh?  We have all summer.”  Nate leans in for a kiss, with his Kiss the Chef apron still on and slightly covered in egg batter from the French toast.  It’s cute in that “I have never cooked a day in my life” look that Nate is sporting.  We finish our surprisingly edible and rather delicious breakfast, I’ve taught him well!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 3 will be a split chapter. Split between me vacationing and getting ready to marry Nate and taking care of the Gallys' twins during the summer break. Kids they grow up so fast.


	3. When the Gallys are Away

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The twins are now old enough to travel longer distances so the Gally's resume their usual summer habits of travelling to Vancouver then abroad. I end up with 2 months to myself with Nate and a wedding to plan. When December of that year hits my stress level spikes.

The Canadiens get swept in the 2nd round which effectively starts the summer break for the team. The end of season grill out at the Pacioretty's house is where Nate and I announce our engagement and the Gally twins show how much they've grown this year.

Now that the twins have started to talk, they begin begging for their nightly bedtime story and sometimes it's the only way to get them to nap to. Brendan, Alex, and I tradeoff this job and sometimes the language of the story since Alex and Brendan want their children to speak multiple languages. Alex will occasionally read a Russian nursery rhyme complete with sock puppet, I would do the same in French, and Brendan acted out all his stories in English and in the twins opinion was the best story teller of all.

Now that the twins were old enough to travel in planes, Alex and Brendan resumed their normal summer vacations by travelling first to Vancouver so grandma and grandpa Gallagher could see them and staying a few weeks, then renting an apartment in St. Petersburg for the remainder of the summer returning the first week of September. This essentially gave me the townhouse to myself.

Nate and I left for our vacation about the same time the Gallys did and true to Nate's word we went on a cross country train trip. We left Montreal for Halifax a week after the season ended. Nate having flown on most of his travels actually found the train ride far more enjoyable spending most of the daylight hours in the lounge watching the maritime scenery roll past and the evening hours cuddled up with me on the lower bunk of our sleeping compartment. There wasn’t a lot of space to make love on that bed, but we were able to get a little fun in even though the thin walls meant we had to be quiet doing it.  
By mid-afternoon we arrived in Halifax but only stayed long enough to rent a car. We drove up the Nova Scotia coastline row what felt like an eternity until we arrived in Sydney just after dark. Courtesy of Airbnb, we stayed with a gay couple that owned a house near the harbor side. Sydney is a quaint seaside town that basically serves as the central business area for Cape Breton. Brendan and Alex told us that we had to come here for the scenery and out certainly didn't disappoint. The bluffs and woods reminded me more of Scotland than they did of the rest of Canada and the accent is more distinct as well. I couldn't quite describe it myself, but Nate picked up on it right away.

The long winding roads of Cape Breton Island gave me time to find out what Nate really sees in me. “Nate, I have to ask what in me makes you attracted to me? I’m 15 years almost to the day your senior we have vastly different lives.”

Nate at the end of the last sentence places a finger to my lips and answers, “Adam, you are a sweet and kind soul that I can relax and be myself around. There’s no fake exterior, just me a small town boy. When I first saw you, I didn’t see you as a fan and you didn’t see us a hockey players, when you came to Montreal and Alex and Brendan greeted you like a member of the family, the look on your face told me everything I needed to know. I was so glad that Brendan invited me to New Year’s at their house, and left disappointed that you didn’t seem interested in me.”

“I was wondering why Alex and Brendan kept trying to make time for me last summer, they knew you wanted me didn’t they.”

“I think that the entire team was sick of my pining by the end of the season and if the Gallys didn’t get us together soon, Alex would have issued a Russian mafia style hit on me. I was so glad the day you called and asked if I would go skating with you. I jumped at the chance to prove you wrong about me.”

“Well, I’m glad you proved me wrong. And I’m really glad we went on that first date, I love you!”

“I love you too.”

“But…” Nate begins, “If you were in to me why did you wait?”

“It was too soon for me, I just lost my husband the fall before and I didn’t feel ready to jump back into dating someone, the mental wound was still too fresh. After the twins were born and seeing the happiness on Brendan and Alexs’ faces and seeing the twins for the first time myself, I was ready for love in my heart again.”

We really only allowed 2 days to tour the Cape Breton Coast line due to the schedule of the train. We left Sydney the following morning to tour the Cape Breton highlands stopping at a roadside farm market to get supplies for a picnic lunch. We ate at a roadside rest area that overlooked the Gulf of St. Lawrence. It was a clear day and from our vantage point I could make out Prince Edward Island off in the distance. We stayed the night at a beautiful bed and breakfast along the coast to reenergize for the long haul back to Halifax to catch the train back to Quebec. We made a note that for our honeymoon we were going to come back here to spend a quiet few weeks next summer. Since we were both small town boys the lack of city traffic allowed us to relax a little even at the hectic pace we were driving.

We get back to Halifax just in time to return our rental and board the train, Nate has only been to Quebec City to play preseason games, and has spent little time touring it. Since I'm a history freak and Nate always likes to learn something new, I would be his tour guide. The romantic side of Nate took the opportunity to spoil us a touch and booked a week long stay at Chateau Frontenac.

Nate provides me with the first surprise of the trip as we get off the train.

“I booked us time at a day spa. We need to spend some time relaxing, you always have the stress of taking care of the Gally clan and I have the stress of the season to get worked out. I thought some hot stone massages would be nice.”

I have to admit that if this is my life, then this is the best life! We get to the spa and find ourselves alone in the changing room. It created a nice little private time to kiss Nate passionately for the gift. I usually have a hard time relaxing, so an hour here seems like an ideal move.

We get in the massage parlour area and they ask if we have any problem areas. I’m always tense in my back and shoulders so the start looking for trigger points that would mark the placement of the stones and it doesn’t take long for the masseuse to find exactly what she was looking for and I about jump off the table. Nate starts giggling next to me about my inability to relax. “Damn sweetie why so tense? Keep that up and your new nickname will be Alex.” I grumble, but as they place the stones, I can feel several of the muscles in my back start to loosen up, I could get used to this. Nate’s masseuse starts placing stones on him with a lot of groaning and hissing coming from the table next to me, I chuckle thinking now who can’t relax eh, Nate groans more.

We get to the chateau and I have to admit, this place is gorgeous. The Frontenac is notably the most visible and striking building in Old Town. I convince Nate that we need to get lunch, and I lead him out of Upper Quebec and take the funicular down to the more commercial Lower Town where many of the quaint restaurants are located. We review the menus as we walk and I’m impressed with Nate’s ease with the French language finding out later on that he’s actually bilingual. We settle on a pizzeria splitting a big pie between us. Feeling significantly stuffed, we walk back to Upper Town and take a lap around the ramparts to walk off the rich lunch we just enjoyed. The walk also gave me a chance to show Nate some of the town and we read all the markers along the way, taking in the city’s history.

We get back to the hotel and I give Nate his first surprise. We walk into our room, and no sooner than the door closing I body check Nate against the door, kissing him passionately. I feel his cock straining against mine, and I know it’s time to lead him to bed. I start marching him that direction, removing an article of clothing with each step to the bedroom in our suite. 

We arrive to our bed, naked and feeling every inch of the other’s body. Nate takes his time, marking me as his for what feels like forever, leaving me gasping and moaning on the mattress. Just like every other time we’ve had sex, my brain seems to forget the English language, knowing that guiding Nate in French drives my fiancé wild.

I eventually pant out the opposite phrase from our first time together, a phrase I haven’t uttered to Nate ever, “Je veux me foutre.” I want him inside me, Nate smiles broadly. He reaches out for the lube and a condom, liberally applying lube to my hole and his cock. He enters me and swears loudly, “Damn Adam, so tight, your hole is so fucking hot.”

Nate starts pumping slowing at first then getting into a rhythm that keeps hitting my prostate with regularity. A couple of minutes of this and I blow my load without even touching my cock, Nate grins into a kiss and lets loose on me until he came while kissing me passionately. “That was so fucking hot, I’ve never gotten a guy to come without touching him. I really fucking turn you on don’t I?”

“That was a first for me too, I’m way into you Nate, I love you!” I’m left a panting mess. We take a moment to regroup with Nate and I sandwiched together. Our dinner reservation downstairs is in 30 minutes, so we quickly jump in the shower together and get ourselves ready, walking into the restaurant just in time.

We leave Quebec City behind the following afternoon and take a train back to Montreal for a brief overnight stop at home to wash our clothes and pick up items we need to make our next journey. We take the evening to skate our favorite path and have dinner out on the town. The shock of Nate’s coming out in the NHL on my birthday has quieted down, relatively few people even approach us when we are out in public, and much more surprising is that I can now hold his hand when we go out.

I’m excited to once again be taking the Canadian to Vancouver, thankfully under much less awkward circumstances. After taking a morning train from Montreal, we ended up in Toronto just before lunchtime, allowing time to get some food and use the station WiFi to download a few movies to watch once darkness falls.

We board our train, and Nate again doesn’t disappoint, he booked us into Prestige class. Our room features a nice leather couch which converts into a queen size murphy bed, a bathroom, all the coffee and water we can drink, and access to the dining and longue cars. “Nate you already have my heart, quit wooing me.”

“Adam, I am not wooing you, I can afford nice things and I want to share those nice things in life with you. I love you, if I haven’t made that apparent.”

“That’s all good Nate, next summer we are tent camping on Cape Breton or Rollerblading around Toronto or London. I just want to do things with you, and it doesn’t always have to be this nice.”

“I know… I just like being able to enjoy the fruits of my labor. I know you aren’t used to all this yet.”

Nate leans in and kisses me gently. “Let’s go check out the lounge car before dinner!”

I have to admit, even though this is only my 3rd overnight train in Canada, I keep thinking that Amtrak could learn a lot about overnight trains from their friends to the north. The bunk beds on Amtrak have nothing on being able to cuddle with Nate, the meals in the dining car are top notch (even the takeout menu is better considering Amtrak the most filling item is a burger, provided the café car has one), and the lounge car is much better stocked. Via Rail for all its other faults, like lack of speed between Toronto and Montreal, gets this part right.

After departing Toronto, Nate and I got dinner in the dining car and spent the evening mingling in the longue as we enter the Ontario countryside. We met a few Canadiens fans in the lounge and surprisingly enough spent more time talking about our lives, there was a little conversation about Nate’s coming out moment, but the people we met were decent and accepting. The ring on my finger catches a few of our new friends’ eyes and we were frequently congratulated on our engagement, with a few wondering if we were going to repeat the Gally Gala of a couple of a couple of seasons ago. The company on the train was great, but only after a couple of drinks I could tell Nate was getting tired and I was beyond exhausted when we went back to our compartment, almost like magic elves had been here the couch we sat on when the trip started was now a queen size bed. We stripped down to our underwear and crawled into bed snuggling as the dark Canadian countryside rolled by our window like a never ending movie. The gentle rocking of the train lulled us to sleep cuddled in each other’s arms.

I woke the next morning to a 6’3” blonde haired, blue eyed hockey player straddled on top of me with his cock grinding against mine and his soft lips pressing into my own. If there is a better way to wake up, I’ve never known it, and to think that there is another 2 nights of this coming up. Nate quickly takes care of both of our morning wood situations, and we get showered and dressed for breakfast. We get down to breakfast, and find that we are popular dining mates. We are seated with… hockey fans, who know Nate and since the RDS interview now know who I am. Still stuck by their lack of surprise and total acceptance, the conversation at breakfast was about our upcoming wedding, the plan, the date, the location. The couple we were seated with were actually on their honeymoon so we got to see their wedding pictures. It was the stereotypical summer wedding at a gazebo scenario. It actually reminded me of a few weddings my family put on, many of those were spent cooking in my grandparent’s kitchen and arranging flowers with my grandfather. Every wedding up until my sister’s wedding always had his personal touch. It was a personal touch, that I wish I could have now, but sadly we lost him when I was a teenager. Of any person in my life, he was the man I looked up to the most and I miss him every day.

I could feel Nate watching over me as I looked at those pictures, photos of a people I never met, yet felt closer to that I would ever know. As breakfast went on, the other couple talked about how their mother did the flowers, and the gazebo was in the back yard of their grandmother’s house. This couple reminded me of my own family, and I felt slightly homesick for the first time in a while. We finish breakfast and wished the other couple a happy honeymoon.

We headed back to our compartment, and Nate looks at me and can see some of the emotion that breakfast brought out in me. He asks me what’s wrong, and I proceed to tell him how close that couple felt to my own family. I tell him every story about how family events went down. My grandparent’s would often times have a houseful of people that would be cooking and baking up a storm, or preparing the extremely long table in the basement to accommodate all the relatives. Then I tell him the wedding stories, and I start losing it because every wedding I ever went to except my own had my granddad’s touch. “You really respected that man didn’t you?”

“He was the man I looked up to every day when I was a kid, I miss him a lot. His death left a big hole in my heart and I never really grieved for him.”

“Adam, once we are married you can start leaving Canada, since I’m a citizen and you’re married to me you won’t be considered absent. I want to go see the man you idolize.”

Nate pulls me into hug, and I can feel my tears dampen his shoulder. Of all the intimacy we’ve shared in our relationship, this is the most intimate moment we’ve shared. This train trip hasn’t just been a vacation, it’s a voyage of discovery for both of us. I feel closer to Nate now.

After lunch we pass through Winnipeg, and a surprise pair joins us on the train. Nate knows Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews as foes on the ice, I just know them as hockey players which is weird since I have a completely different connection to the entire Canadiens team, the Canadiens team has become a group of close friends.

“Nathan Bealieu, the newest out Canadien…” Patrick starts a chirp but loses it when he notices I’m behind him.

“So you and your beau taking it a little slow like us this summer?” Patrick finishes his thought.

“No Kane, my fiancé and I are taking a nice little vacation.” Nate glares.

“Felicitations! Beaulieu” Jonathan exclaims. “When’s the date?”

I finally chime in, “Haven’t decided yet, if Nate is willing to let you come, we’ll let you know!” I switch languages and look directly at Jonathan, “Dinons avec nous?”

“Avec plaisure Adam! Tu parles francais bien!” is the taller hockey player’s reply, I’m more impressed he knows my name considering we’ve never met. Nate looks at me impressed at my language skills. I grab my fiancé’s hand and lead him off to dinner with Patrick and Jonny in tow.

We sit down to dinner and the Blackhawks pair announces to us that this is their brief summer honeymoon. I feel like I’m noticing a theme at our meal times. It’s like Canadian train is the ultimate honeymoon jaunt. With one notable exception, US! So we steer the conversation toward their wedding, and they admit they were married on the ice of the United Center with their family and team gathered around them. It wasn’t fancy or complex. It was an off night in the UC and they had the place to themselves. They rented out a restaurant for their reception, keeping things simple. Everyone we’ve met so far had these fairy tale extravaganzas and here we are with people that had a wedding similar to the one we want. I was engaged in the whole conversation, pun intended. Patrick glances at the ring on my finger, then at me, “You really are great for him Adam, every game we play against this guy he never shuts up about you. Just know that you make him very happy just being you.” I think I remember uttering a thanks to the man, but I was just struck at how personal the pair kept the conversation and even went out of their way to engage me.

We adjourned to the lounge car and kept the conversation going on into the night. As the countryside flies by us, Nate, Patrick, Jonny and I start feeling wonderfully buzzed and sleepy from the alcohol, Nate announces the he and I are headed off to bed, Patrick and Jonny follow suit after Patrick starts yawning in his lounge chair. It turns out that Patrick and Jonny are our new neighbors for the evening since they enter the compartment next to us. Our bed has been turned down, and our cabin attendant left us a couple bottles of water and some chocolates, Nate slips out for a second to give him a generous tip for his service. When he returns, we strip down like the previous night and enjoy the joint warmth of our bodies underneath the sheets.

We wake up in the morning, and I give Nate a good morning blow job and a cup of coffee, we shower, get dressed and join Patrick and Jonny for breakfast. Their planning on getting off in Banff and staying there for a couple of weeks, Jonny pulled some strings to get a honeymoon suite for them at the Fairmont there, I add that to a list of possible destinations for our own honeymoon, though I’d rather backcountry camp or rent a lodge, something a little more rustic for us.

The train arrives at Banff and we pop out our compartment door to wish Patrick and Jonathan well. The train then pulls out of the station and we continue on with the more rugged Canadian Rockies creating an awesome view for our dinner reservation and subsequent drinks in the lounge. The train is slightly emptier now than when we left Toronto, but still quite a few people are aboard travelling much shorter distances. Tonight is our last night on the train, and Nate wants to go out with a bang so to speak.  
We left the lounge early and headed back to our compartment. Nate arranged for the bed to be made early for us.

After the door closes, I get thrown down on the bed with Nate falling on top of me. I let out a loud “ompf!” His lips join my with a heated passion moaning into his kiss. His already hard cock bumps up against mine and I let out my own audible moan. Nate’s lust takes over and he unbuttons my shirt as if it were on fire flicking it open and licking at my hardened nipples. My jeans tighen as my cock hardens. Nate starts peeling my jeans and boxer briefs off and takes me into his mouth with vigor.

He switches to French on me briefly to inform me that he wants to be fucked. I take great pleasure when we swear in our second languages. Nate reaches down to his bag, and grabs the lube out, but I notice he doesn’t grab a condom. “Je veux te sens.” He wants to feel me, all of me. He lubes his hole and my dick, and starts to sink down for his ride. I reach up to muffle his moan, because when Nate gets like this, the entire train would hear him. “Mon Dieu Adam!” Nate pants as I still try to muffle him. I’m really glad that Patrick and Jonny got off the train hours ago or we would never hear the end of this. I’m pretty sure whoever has that compartment next to us is listening to a porno without the picture.

Nate starts jacking on his cock after a few minutes of fucking and shoots a load all over my chest. The spasms of Nate’s orgasm send me over the edge and I fill Nate up with my juices. “I wanted to feel you cum in me Adam, this was incredible.” Nate actually sounds out of breath, and falls down on top of me waiting for me to go soft and slip out before he moves. We kiss passionately before Nate pads over to the bathroom to get a wash cloth to clean up. The gentle rocking of the train and listening to the gentle beat of Nate’s heart, I fall asleep quickly that night.

We arrive in Vancouver for surprise number two of the vacation, waiting for us in the waiting room is Alex, Brendan, Brendan, and Sasha. “I kinda called ahead with our arrival and they said they’d meet us here. Let’s go pick up our car so we can follow this fine looking family back to the Gallagher’s, we’ve been invited to stay with them a couple of days.”

Nate heads over to get our rental for the next couple of days with me staying with the Gallys. After picking up our luggage, we start walking out of the station, I turn to Alex and ask what they are still doing in Canada. 

“We leave for St. Petersburg in a couple of days, when Nate called a couple of days ago stating you two were on your way over here, we wanted to be your welcome party. Tonight we dine with Ian and Della. Tomorrow, Brendan and I are going to go sightseeing with you two, grandma Gallagher is going to watch the twins for us. Did you two have a good trip over?”

“There’s a lot to tell, let’s get settle and I’ll tell you what happened.”

Once we get back to the Gally’s SUV, Nate leaves me briefly to run and pick up our rental car; I stay behind to help Brendan and Alex load the twins into their car seats. Based on their body form and facial features, it is becoming a lot easier to tell that the twins are easily related to Brendan and Alex.

Since they left Montreal, Alex and Brendan told me that Sasha has started saying his first words with a vocabulary of a couple of Russian words and a couple of English ones as well. Brendan on the other hand seems to be picking up English and French.

We get back to the Gallagher’s and it’s time for Sasha and Brendan’s nap. Nate and I head in to read to them “Le Petit Prince” in French, Nate helps me act out the parts. It’s a cute and endearing side of Nate I rarely get to see. Sasha and Brendan were entranced at the beginning, but by the time we get to chapter 2 the twins pass out. Nate and I take our leave quietly and head out to the back garden with Brendan and Alex.

Brendan wants to know everything that happened on the train which I give passing glances of. “So first off there is another power couple marriage in the NHL.”

Alex raises an eyebrow, “Who is it?”

Nate grins brightly, “Toews and Kane.”

Brendan opens up his trademark smile then laughs, “No fuckin shit, I’ve always thought something was going on between them. We should invite them over the next time the Hawks are in town.”

“What about your own marriage guys?” Alex asks with curiosity.

Nate replies, “Probably going to do it at Bell Centre this season on an off night.”

I suggest, “How about the start of All-Star break with a honeymoon for the rest of that time at a lodge in Banff?”

Nate smiles at my decisiveness, “I like it, plenty of time to plan and it’s a perfect short vacation for us that Alex and Brendan can take care of the twins. So Alex and Brendan, think I can borrow your assistant for a few days in February?”

Alex smiles at me, “I think we can arrange that. Might want to get ahold of Bell Centre now though so they don’t mess with your plan, or just do the ceremony part after morning skate before our last home game before that break.”

I ponder that thought for a few minutes, “I think that could work for us Nate, let’s get that date and make everything official.”

Nate kisses me passionately, “Excuse me for a minute, I need to go call Bergevin and get everything settled.”

Nate returns to us, “Everything is set with Bergevin, he’s going to get in touch with the ice crew to make sure the arena is set for us. I guess that means we need to get the plan started when we get home.”

Alex interjects, “Well you are here now, and I have some neighbor kids coming over to make a 3 on 3 game on the roller rink back here. You guys bring your blades with you.”

I reply that we did and ran off to the guest room we were staying in to quietly retrieve them and not wake the twins. I get back to the back yard, and our foursome is now two people larger. We get our skates and pads on, and position ourselves on the rink. Nate tells me to take the faceoff against Alex like it is actually a fair battle for the puck. I win the first face off and pass the puck to Nate who is being defended by Brendan. The puck comes back to me and I pass it along to the kid that joined us he shoots and scores the first goal.

We play for about 2 hours with the neighbor kids when they announce that they have to head home for dinner. Alex and Brendan and their kid won the match 12-10. Nate, Brendan, and Alex sign autographs for the kids to thank them for playing. We take off to shower and get ready for dinner ourselves.

After we sit down, Della starts grilling us about the wedding as I feed Brendan and Nate feeds Sasha, I can tell from Nate’s interactions with the twins that he would make an awesome father. I feel like I drew the short lot though on this one as it is way easier to feed Sasha without making a gigantic mess. After feeding him his main course of chicken and rice baby food, I put some softened pear cubes from a fruit cup for Brendan and pass them off to Nate for Sasha to enjoy as well. I have to hand feed the cubes to Brendan because if I don’t he will just mash them in his hand rather than eat them. They are cold so it helps numb the pain of teething that they are now exhibiting.

Alex and Brendan finish their dinner and take the twins off our hands so we can eat. I can hear that they are playing with some baby style musical instruments. Della tells us how impressed they were with how Nate and I handle the twins. 

About an hour after dinner, it was Alex and Brendan’s turn to read the bed time, except toddler Brendan had other desires, and expresses to Brendan, “Je veux Adam et Nate, papa!” Sasha concurs, “Oui papa, Le Petit Prince.”

Alex looks at his husband then leaves the room and comes out to me. “Nate, Adam, the twins want you to keep reading Le Petit Prince.” Nate and I smile, then go to the twin’s room and read more of the French tale until Brendan and Sasha passed out.  
We head back out to the living room to hang out with the rest of the family. The talk about the upcoming wedding continues by talking about what we envision it to look like.

I remember watching Alex and Brendan’s wedding at Bell Centre almost 3 years ago and remember seeing the tuxedo style jerseys that were worn by the team. “I’d love to bring back those tuxedo style jerseys that Alex and Brendan had at their wedding. Having the wedding party maybe wearing a pinned on boutonniere”

Nate continues, “I loved all that, but rather than have everyone sitting in the ice, we take the glass out of a section in the seats while we are on the ice for the ceremony.”

Della nods in agreement, “So what about a reception?”

“Haven’t gotten that far yet,” I reply.

“Well I’m sure it will really nice and personal for you two.” Alex adds.

After a couple of after dinner drinks, Nate and I are worn out from the busy day we’ve had, head off to bed and fall asleep quite quickly.

We woke the next morning to Alex and Brendan practically body checking us to go out for breakfast and rollerblading. We skated about 14 miles in the Seymore Forest, with a more rugged terrain that I am used to in Montreal it was an intense skate, but one the other 3 needed to get ready to train for the upcoming season. We did a little harbor front cruise which included lunch then headed back to the Gallagher’s for dinner and drinks in the back yard. We didn’t stay up too late as we had to be up fairly early to head to the airport our flight back to Montreal.

The following morning we ate a quick breakfast at the Gallagher’s residence before saying goodbyes to Della and Ian. Alex, Brendan, the twins, Nate, and I head off to the airport where we will part ways. Nate and I are headed back home while Alex and Brendan and the twins are headed to Russia for the remainder of the summer.

On the flight back, Nate and I try to hash out a guest list of people to invite. I dig out my laptop and start to design the invitation. “Dear, you are so multi-talented, these are going to be beautiful. Now the last major thing to decide is the reception.”

“How about lunch to follow the wedding in a couple of the suites? We won’t have a long time after the wedding before the team needs to get ready for the game that night. We can get the arena catering company to make a couple of dishes trying as best to stick with the team’s diet plan as closely as is possible. There are a couple of options if we would rather wait one day and have the reception on an off night.”

Nate sits in his seat pondering, “I don’t really want to rush a party because of the team and I really want everyone to be able to enjoy the party, particularly the team since they are practically family for me.”

I get where Nate is coming from, I really didn’t want to rush the party either because this is an important step in both of our lives. “Okay so reception the following evening, my family is going to kill me for this, but at least the hotel industry in Montreal will get a little boost.”

“If it causes any problems with people, I can stay with you at the Gally’s and use my condo. I have 3 rooms the people can use there.” Nate adds, and I agree that will make this easier on my family.

Once Nate and I are back in Montreal, Nate spends most days training in the off season to prepare for the next one. I work on keeping the Gally’s residence clean for the summer until they return in September. The time in the off season seems to pass by in a blur and before I know it, I am back to taking care of the twins, cooking, and cleaning every day. Nate is spending more off evenings with us since he found out I could cook, some nights he even helps me out in the kitchen teaching him new things in the kitchen, his new favorite task is making brown Irish soda bread in the stand mixer which I often pair with my awesome stews.

The beginning of the season starts of hot for the Canadiens as they win the first 10 of the season. I don’t attend as many home games this season as Alex’s mom has been out of the country visiting family in Belarus. Anna has been in town for a few game nights and doesn’t miss an opportunity to spoil her nephews and giving me the night off.

This year the Canadiens are on the road for the beginning of December, leaving me alone for my birthday as well as Nate’s. I end up spending that time finializing the last few details of our upcoming wedding with Nate joining me on Skype for a few of those decisions. We finally decided that the wedding reception will be at the sports bar at the Brossard practice facility. The Canadiens actually are allowing us free use of the entire building for the reception so the kids can play soccer or skate creating a full family atmosphere.

We get closer to Christmas and Alex and Brendan bring back a present from their road trip, the flu bug. I’m now stuck at home every day, with at least one member of the family puking their guts out. Alex got sick first and proceeded to try to play through it, I ended up getting Coach Therrien to healthy scratch him for two games in which I feed Alex homemade chicken soup and Gatorade until he is sick of both but feeling much better. Once I finally get Alex all healed up and ready to hit the ice, Brendan comes back from morning skate looking like a ghost of his normally cheerful self. Brendan ended up not being the only one sick, Sasha ended up coming down with symptoms the same day as Brendan.

I run to the grocery store leaving Alex to deal with Sasha and Brendan trading off opportunities to praise the porcelain gods picking up more ingredients for chicken soup, candied ginger, ginger ale, Pedialyte, and Gatorade. I get home and stir the fizz out of a half glass of ginger ale and mix it with Pedialyte and feed it to Sasha while Brendan gets a bottle of Gatorade laced with Ginger Ale and a gigantic bowl of Chicken Soup. Out of all the family members to get sick so far, an ill Brendan Gallagher is the worst about being whiny. Brendan too ends up trying to play through being sick, this time I got the trainers to bar him from practice until his symptoms clear a little. They ship him back to my care with a box of Tamiflu and instructions to stay hydrated and off the ice for 4 days.

Much to my surprise baby Brendan and I never end up getting sick thankfully and by the time the virus seems to have eradicated from the Gally residence, Nate calls me and tells me he’s feeling feverish and has the chills. There is no rest for the weary! I repeat the same ministrations on Nate leaving him bed ridden on my bed for 3 days also. Nate is aware of how I kept both Gallys off the ice with the flu and he doesn’t even attempt to leave for practice or games. I’m glad he learned from the other two because I would have handcuffed him to my headboard and spoon fed him if I had to. Come to think of it after the fact that wouldn’t have been so bad.

After 4 people fell ill in my care, I take time one day with Nate recouperating in my bed to scrub every surface of the townhouse with disinfecting cleaner. Baby Brendan and I still managed to stay healthy through all the illnesses. Everyone finally recouperated just in time for Alex’s annual Christmas Eve party. Preparations for this year’s party was a ton easier now that Nate has mastered basic cooking skills.

After the holidays, my stress level hits 100 percent as I count down the days to the day Nate and I become a married couple. My best man ends up being Alex along with both my brother’s as groomsmen. Nate’s best man ends up being Brendan, his dad and Shea Weber rounding out his side of the aisle.

After looking over our wedding plans, we almost replicated Brendan and Alex’s wedding with the exception of the 20,000 plus guest list. We ended up inviting about 100 people plus the team.

Our wedding day came and Nate looks just as hot as the day we met. There is one wedding tradition we ended up not following, we were together the night before our wedding since we had to use Nate’s condo to house my dad, my brothers, and my niece.

The ceremony was gorgeous, we did write our own vows, did the legally required statements of affirmation, and our unity moment. The order looked more like Brendan and Alex’s wedding except we had the ice crew take out glass behind one goal so we could seat our guests there. We scored our unity goal together and skated off to the tunnel together.

We held our reception in Brossard the following night and the sports bar did an incredible job of catering. The kids that were invited all had fun playing in the various facilities. I have to admit that the ice skating got a little entertaining as the night wore on and people got more and more intoxicated. Several people just made a game of falling down because apparently the ice kept tilting on them.

Nate and I leave for our honeymoon that night taking the red eye flight to Calgary and renting a car to get to our cabin in Banff National Park. We purposely turned off our cell phones for the entire weekend to just enjoy each other’s company.

The cabin was gorgeous and had a beautiful view of Lake Louise. We spent most days in bed making love to a roaring fire only leaving for showers, breakfast, and dinner. If I ever wanted to retire anywhere, it was here. Nate and me living in a log cabin out in the woods like this, I could never imagine a better life.

We leave to head back on Sunday as Nate has practice on Monday and I have to take care of twins for the Gallys as the second half of the hockey season progresses. The twins are now walking and both boys have taken potty training surprisingly well. Both boys are using the toilet on a fairly regular basis. Their vocal skills are getting much better also and they associate a language with each member of the household. The twins speak French to Nate and I, Russian to Alex, and English to Brendan. On away game nights, I let the boys stay up a little later than normal so they can watch Daddy and Papa play as they now call Brendan and Alex respectively.

Just like last season, the Canadiens end up making the playoffs. This year they actually looked like Stanley Cup contenders and end up in the SCF against the Blackhawks. One of the nights prior to a home game we did end up inviting Jonny and Patrick to have dinner with the Gallys, Nate, and I. I made a homemade lasagna and garlic butter rolls and steamed broccoli for the occasion. It’s a little heavy and probably not on the diet plan, but it is well received. Knowing Jonny’s desire for healthy foods, I made sure everything I used was organic and gluten free and I used greek yogurt instead of ricotta cheese or cottage cheese. It took a little work and Nate’s awesome assistance, but it turned out thankfully. 

The series ends up going 7 games, but in the end the Canadiens ended up victorious on home ice. I was even allowed to bring the twins to the game and when the cup was awarded, we watched from the team tunnel as it was passed from player to player. The twins had trouble even hiding their excitement for their dads. When the team finally starts to clear the ice, Alex, Brendan, and Nate all find us. Alex and Brendan take a moment to hug their children, and Nate takes the golden opportunity to kiss me before then head off to the locker room for the celebration.

I end up waiting up for the team celebration to end when I get a phone call. It’s Nate and he admits that he, Alex and Brendan have had too much to drink and that they are calling a cab to bring them home. So begins a long night and a short summer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter is going to take a while as I have to prep two classes and for a speaking engagement I have in February. I hope to have it done by New Year's but I can't make promises.


	4. An Offer I Can't Refuse

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nate offers me time to vacation back in Michigan now that we are married. Meanwhile, others have begun to notice my presence around Montreal, when Marc Bergevin gets wind of my talents he tries to figure out how to exploit them for the benefit of the Canadiens.

It was about 3 am when Nate, Alex and Brendan arrive back to the Gally’s townhouse.  I was awoken from my sentry on the couch by three grown men stumbling in the darkness of the night.  I get up from my slumber to stabilize Nate, and Alex who obviously had the best time of the bunch.  Brendan while a little tipsy serving as my counterbalance for Alex.  I grab the Vitamin B-Complex and 3 glasses of water and electrolyte mix I put in a serving tray for dips as Nate brushes the breakfast bar.

 

After walking upstairs and depositing Nate in my bedroom, Brendan and I marched Alex to bed helping him with his clothing and forcing a Vitamin B and glass of water with added electrolytes into him.  Brendan gladly accepts his dose of the same from me.  With Brendan taking over getting Alex into bed, I head back with my tray of goodies to take care of Nate.  I walk into my bedroom and hear Nate in my bathroom, and it doesn’t sound like my toilet and him are having a good meeting. 

 

After Nate stops heaving his guts into my toilet, he rinses out his mouth with my mouthwash and heads back to me with 4 ibuprofen, vitamin B, and water with electrolytes ready to go.  He smiles at me and takes his medicine gladly hoping that I help him stave off the pending hangover the following morning.  I strip him of most of his clothing, leaving only his boxers on and I lay him into my bed.  He rolls over and passes out before I even strip off my shirt.  I curl in beside him and know that the twins are probably going to wake me up long before I’m ready to have to think.

 

Sure enough 4 hours after I close my eyes, Sasha knocks on my bedroom door widely alert after only 7 hours of sleep.  I throw on a few articles of clothing and head to the door, leaving Nate to sleep a few more hours.  Sasha announces he’s a little hungry and his brother is right behind him with the same begging look that makes me feel like I’m living in a Dickens novel.

 

The twins and I head downstairs to start cooking breakfast for everyone and I start baking a small pile of bacon, and begin mixing some pancake batter.  While the batter rests a few minutes, I sliced some strawberries and added a little sugar and nutmeg to them and let them sit while the pancakes cook.

 

Bleary eyed and slightly hungover, Nate joins me downstairs.  I toss the ibuprofen his direction along with a cup of coffee, some b vitamins, and a bottle of Gatorade.

 

“What in the name of everything holy are people doing up at this time of day?”  Brendan announces from the top of the stairs.  He starts his march down one step at a time and loud enough to announce to Alex that the rest of the house is awake.  I hear more stirring upstairs that announces that Alex’s feet have found the floor.  After passing my hangover remedy along the breakfast bar, I resume cooking breakfast which is ravenously consumed by all there.

 

After breakfast, Nate joins me with the twins while Alex and Brendan attempt to sleep off the remainder of their hangover.  I wake them a couple of hours later with more Gatorade and the pair start to look more human.  If I had thought this through more, I would have left the twins with grandma Galchenyuk at the game, going home to maintain sentry waiting for my 3 other charges to arrive home.

 

I get the running stroller out after Brendan and Alex wake back up, Nate and I take the twins out for a mid-afternoon skate and picnic in Parc Angrignon, skating them back just in time for their afternoon story and nap time.  Nate and I finally finished “Le Petit Prince” just as Sasha and Brendan nod off to sleep.

 

Nate and I head back downstairs to talk about the summer plan for Nate and Alex.

 

“Well Alex and I are probably going to hang out in Vancouver for most of the summer, travelling to Sarnia for Alex’s day with the Cup then back to Vancouver.  Grandma and grandpa Gallagher have minced no words to me that our children do not spend enough time with us.  We’ll probably leave this weekend.”

 

“So Adam, “ Alex starts swallowing heavily apparently no wanting to know what my answer to his question will be. “What is your plan about moving in with Nate?”

 

Nate actually answers for me as we have been talking about it off and on since the wedding.  “Adam and I bought a townhouse of our own just two doors down from here actually.  We were planning to move in this summer, will also head back down to London at some point to visit my family and then back to Michigan briefly so Adam can see his family.  Now that we are married, he can leave the country without being considered absent from Canada.”

 

I offer up what I expect working conditions to be, “I will still be able to take care of Sasha and Brendan.  I have no plans to leave your employ, I just won’t be living here full time.  I will stay over during your road trips to take care of the twins and will be here during the day and into the evening if necessary.  I can also take the twins to any home games you want them to attend though we probably will head home after 2nd periods so they get to bed at a decent hour and will wait here until you all get home.  I made a promise that I want to see your family grow up and I mean that.”

 

Alex lets out a great big sigh of relief.  “I’m glad to hear we aren’t losing you, I don’t think I can trust anyone else with our kids.”

 

The week passes by with relatively few incidents.  Although now that the twins are 2, I fear the terrible twos that people always talk about with their own kids.  The vastly different personalities mean Brendan goes through the terrible twos while Sasha goes through the contemplative twos.  Both want to explore their environment, so Nate and I take the twins out for our morning skates. Showing them the boats going through the Canal fascinated them, and even once taking them out to Chambly and skating along the Chambly Canal.  The twins were also fascinated with the fort there; we spoiled them a little and brought them each a period soldier suit in the gift shop.  The cashier looked at us and you could visibly see her thinking that we are such a beautiful family, and she’s only half right.

 

We get the kids home from their Chambly field trip and they wanted to play in their new soldier suits.  Brendan and Alex though they were so cute they each took a picture of them on their phones and sent them to every contact in their address books.  Patch chirped back in a text, “The Gallys’ new protective detail.”

 

It’s always a sad day for me when the Gallys leave for their summer vacation.  I understand that they need to see family and get away from the Montreal limelight for a few weeks, but I miss Sasha and Brendan during their away times.  Nate and I board a flight back to west Michigan, landing early in the evening and head over to my Dad’s house for dinner.  My brothers still find it odd that I’m actually married to an NHL player.

 

My dad admits that it’s nice to see me and mentions that he found a home in his backyard for my hockey rink.  Nate and I are glad we brought our skates, though I was going to take him on the trails that I used to skate when I lived here.  Even though I now consider Montreal my home, I still consider Grand Rapids my hometown since I spent a majority of my life here.

 

We visit my former employer, it has been more than 3 years after I left their employ and am glad to see a little of my former team still there.  The teammates I was really close to even came to our wedding in Montreal.

 

Our fourth day back in Michigan, Nate and I take a long road trip in our rental SUV.  He has a promise to keep from our last train ride across Canada.  We head over to the Jackson area, where my mother’s family settled after leaving the United Kingdom.  We eat lunch at a roadside burger and ice cream stand, the very same one that my family went to the day we buried my mother.  I hop in the driver’s seat for this leg of the journey because I couldn’t tell Nate the driving directions to our next stop as I can only navigate this part of the trip in landmarks.         

 

We drive down US 223 until there are few signs of civilization until we get to a cross road with someone’s driveway off to the left.  We turn here and I drive past the stranger’s house to a patch of grass that is surrounded by rusty fence with an arch that announces this patch of ground to be a cemetery.  Generations of my maternal family are buried here, and I could sit here for hours pointing out the various players of my family tree.  I point several of them out to Nate as we stroll through the small burial plot.

 

We finally walk back to where the newer graves are marked by their shinier polished granite structures.  Here lay my maternal grandparents, my mother, and her stillborn sister, and Nate notices I get more emotional.  He places his hands on my shoulders and leans in behind me.  We brought flowers to place with each grave.

 

I turn to Nate and tell him why I get so emotional in this cemetery:

 

_Every year from as far back as I can remember, my parents, grandparents, and my siblings would travel down here from wherever we were living at the time.  Every spring we came to plant flowers at the graves that marked the places where my ancestors rested eternally.  The land is now owned by the township but here used to be part of one of my ancestor’s farm.  We came back every fall to remove the dead plants from the grounds and maintain the headstones that fell to our care._

_We came every year but with the time number of people joining the party became fewer and the number of cemeteries increased.  The first loss to our entourage was in 1993 when my grandfather passed away, my first husband in 2006 though not buried here shrank our number further until 2009 when my grandmother passed followed by my mother (her daughter) almost 1 year later to the day.  There were 6 stops in the Jackson area and then starting in 2006 there was a stop added in a military cemetery where my first husband is buried.  I have now been a widow twice, and I hope never to be there again._

_My last husband was cremated, and his ashes were distributed in necklaces amongst our closest friends that way he is always close to us.  No one has ever asked about the necklace that I wear almost non-stop (I take it off to shower), but I walk with his memory every day._

I get to the end of the story and am visibly crying.  Nate clutches me in his embrace to let me know that everything is okay now.  We stay at this spot for several minutes while I visit my mother and grandparents before we head over to Ann Arbor to meet up with Jeff Petry who texted Nate to let him know that his day with the cup arrived and that there is a party being held at his dad’s house to celebrate.

 

During the hour drive to Ann Arbor, Nate tells me how much he appreciated the story I told him today.  He understands more where I came from and is glad I can share this part of my life with him.

 

We arrive at the Petry residence and a few Canadiens have joined us.  Patch, Pateryn, Nate, and I all are in attendance as Patch and Pateryn are in town visiting their old NCAA stomping grounds.  We arrive and Patch is wondering what the heck we are doing there.  I tell him we came to Michigan to visit with my family and happened to be on this side of the state.

 

We get out of Ann Arbor late and end up staying the night in town since the long drive back to Grand Rapids is a little much for either one of us.  We get up the next morning, attend to our morning wood which is a daily occurrence when we sleep together, and head back to GR.  We meet up with my dad for one last dinner out before leaving to head to London, Ontario to see Nate’s family and have his day with the Cup.  I tell him where we went the day before, and he’s surprised at how long it has been since I last went to that place.  For me personally, it was my first visit in 10 years to Hanover Township.  The previous visit was a very stormy August day when my mother was finally laid to rest.  I haven’t brought myself to visit that place as there were too many emotions that would unleash themselves the moment I open the fence gates.

 

We leave Michigan behind the next day and take the only direct flight to Canada available from my hometown landing in Toronto 2 hours after takeoff.  Since Amtrak and Via Rail haven’t quite worked out how to restore service to Canada from Michigan, we had to fly to avoid the 3 day jaunt it would take to get back to Canada.  Immigration gives me little grief about returning to Canada since I’ve gone 5 days in about 3 years, and I’m married to a Canadian citizen who was with me the whole time, so my time away will not count against the time it takes me to obtain citizenship, which I will be eligible next year to apply for.

 

We get to the Beaulieu residence and park our belongings in the guest room.  We meet in the living room to go over Nate’s Cup day plans.  He is required to do a few things around town, so there is his old hockey rink that will get a few hours with Nate and the Cup and he plans to let it join us for a play in Stratford before bringing it back to the Beaulieu residence for a block party with the neighbors.

 

We spend the following day travelling from place to place.  The NHL cup officials present the cup to Nate at his hometown arena who holds it up to the crowd to cheering applause.  We spend a couple of hours there where Nate gets his picture taken about a couple of hundred times and signing autographs to the hometown crowd.

 

We leave Strathroy and head to Stratford for the afternoon, where the Cup takes up residence in the theatre lobby while Nate and I are there to see Henry V performed.  Hockey fans in attendance at intermission get to have their pictures taken with the cup and Nate if they so preferred.

 

The cup follows us back to Strathroy for a block party at the Beaulieu’s.  The party was a blast and Alex and Brendan show up to join us as Alex’s day with the Cup in Sarnia is the following day.  The twins really stole the show as Carmen went nuts when she saw them because her last visit was during the mother/son trip back in January.  She couldn’t stop saying how big they’ve gotten especially now that Sasha’s head comes halfway up my thigh. 

 

Alex, Brendan, and the twins were also offered a guest room in the Beaulieu residence as the nearest hotel room is in Sarnia or London.  They woke the next morning early so the young family could get to Sarnia on time, Nate and I joined them that day so I could keep an eye on the twins while Brendan and Alex did their press duties.

 

There are really only 3 places in the world Alex currently considered any attachment to, Russia, Sarnia, and since the arrival of the twins now Montreal.  We get to the arena where Alex played for the Sarnia Sting, and met up with the rest of the Galchenyuk clan along with the NHL officials that guard Lord Stanley’s Cup.  A crowd had already gathered waiting for the cup to arrive and take their pictures with Alex and the cup and maybe even get an autograph from a professional hockey player or three.  After a couple of hours at the arena, we headed out to the St. Clair River walk to give Lord Stanley some photo ops with the Blue Water Bridge in the background.  The group even takes a photo there, Nate and I and Brendan and Alex were even kissing the cup in one of them, while in another Nate and I and Alex and Brendan were making out a little.  The second photo will never make it to Instagram but will make a framed appearance each both houses.  We did dig out the soldier uniforms Nate and I bought to dress the twins and give them a photo as the cup’s new guard.

  

The exhaustive day ends at a hotel in Sarnia, where the Galchenyuk family, and the Gallys rented a conference room for a celebratory dinner with Alex’s former Sting teammates several of them now scattered among the NHL.  This was my first opportunity to meet the infamous Nail, and Alex’s depiction of him was spot on, almost freakishly so.  He had a snappy comeback for everything to the point of calling me “Nate’s midget husband.”  I don’t take it personally as he called baby Brendan his namesake’s “mini me” and Sasha was really “Alex’s clone.”  The last comment had Nate and I doubled over laughing and even Alex couldn’t deny that Sasha carried Alex’s demeanor.  Sasha is so darn serious and contemplative all the time, I swear I heard him think a few times.  Sasha also soaks up information like a sponge.

 

The next morning, we headed back to London so the Gallys can fly back to Vancouver for the rest of the summer.  After saying our “see you soon” well wishing, Nate and I headed back to Montreal by train, stopping short of Montreal to pick up Nate’s car from the long term lot at Dorval.

 

The day finally came that I moved mostly out of the Gallys residence to a place 2 doors down.  Nate had moved on off nights toward the end of the season.  I kept the purchase of the new townhouse secret from the Gallys until after the Cup Finals because I didn’t want to freak them out during the season, but in retrospect they probably knew it was coming at some point after Nate and I got married.  Since we are only 2 doors down from the Gallys, it’s not like I have to cross town to get to work.

 

Nate and I shared our first meal at our new place cooking together, at least until there was a small break while things were cooking.  Nate took that as time to christen our kitchen after he moved in behind me and cupped my balls and starts kissing my neck and I involuntarily moan.  Nate always seems to take great pleasure in doing this to me.  I turn around to face him forgetting that my pasta sauce laden spoon is in my hand and it accidentally gets sandwiched between us staining our shirts a lovely shade of red and causing us to laugh into our kiss.

 

I finally put the shirt down, “Your shirt Adam its wet you should take it off.”  Nate giggles out.

 

“So if yours, let me help you with it.” I say grinning like I’m twelve.  “Anything else you want off like these?”  I take my shorts and boxer briefs off in one g, my cock springs out like it’s been waiting forever for the feel of Nate’s mouth on it.

 

Nate gets down on his knees and leans in to take me.  It’s a sensation I can never grow tired of.  The heat, the vibration, and THAT TONGUE, damnnnnnnnnn.  Whenever he does this to me, I turn to a moaning jellied mess and I’m lucky I’m still standing.  Nate is so well practiced at this now or maybe it’s my surroundings and I’m really turned on, but it doesn’t take long for me to explode with Nate taking it all in his mouth.  He gets back up to kiss me and let me have a taste of my own juices while he releases his tool for my turn.

 

I grab the olive oil from the shelf and use it to slick up Nate’s dick.  I never get tired of him moaning every time his sensitive cockhead is touched.  After he’s sufficiently hard, I turn around grabbing his tool and aiming for my love chute letting him slide in gradually.  It’s a stretch and a little too sensitive; I moan loudly not caring who can hear me.  Nate moans with me in tandem, and gets to work.  “There’s something hot about fucking you while you are at the stove.”  Nate starts pounding away causing more moaning and groaning.  He too doesn’t last too long as I feel his seed filling me up and his motions slowing.  After a couple more minutes of embracing each other, the oven time tells me that dinner is ready.  We get our clothes back on and eat together at the breakfast bar.

 

June almost rolls into July, when I offer up our next road trip.  I tell Nate that we have reservations to go to Sault Ste. Marie to celebrate Canada Day and Independence Day.  “I was always wondering how the border towns did it!  I never been to a festival like this.”  It is one of the many places in Michigan where fireworks are done twice.  Sarnia, Detroit, and Grosse Ile all do the same thing.  It’s something I planned a while back making reservations at a campground.  That evening I get all of my camping gear packed into my Jeep (my first major Canadian purchase using the proceeds from closing on my home in Michigan.)  I get Nate up early the next morning bribing him with a blowjob and coffee for the 12 hour marathon drive to the Soo, he reluctantly gets out of bed.

 

We stop near Ottawa for breakfast before beginning the meandering that is driving through the Canadian Shield.  The last time, I performed this was in a fully loaded, very underpowered Kia getting passed by logging trucks and feeling like I was going to die!

 

I strike a deal with Nate that I paid for lodging and did most of the driving since I know where we are headed, Nate had to pay for gas and meals and we had to eat half the meals at our campsite and if we did go out it couldn’t be anything classified as fine dining.

 

We arrived just a little after 6 in the evening and got our tent, cots and sleeping bags set up.  We had to head out for some groceries and firewood, so Nate offers to take us out for dinner.  We ended up at a BBQ place near the International Bridge where shared a platter of pork poutine, I had some jambalaya and Nate ended up with mac and cheese that had bacon and jalapenos in it; it was the first time I’ve ever seen him sweat while eating.  We get our groceries and firewood and head back to camp, when nate notices something about our cots.  “They’re too far apart!” He exclaims.  I found a way to clip them together with a couple of coat hangers and pliers from the Jeep; I then zipped the sleeping bags together to make roughly a full size bed.  “That’s much better, you are so resourceful.”

 

“That’s why you love me isn’t it?”  I reply into a kiss.

 

After our campfire dies we head to bed.  The next day, to take Nate out skating along the waterfront although the trail is short and then head over locks to see the history of the area.  Since it is Canada Day, the streets are adorned with Canadian flags everywhere.  The fireworks both nights are on the St Mary’s river so we take our skate trip to scope out a vantage point that we like. 

 

After a nicely grilled steak dinner by yours truly, we headed back downtown to watch the first night of fireworks.  After the first few go off, Nate leans over to me “You know, we have to do this again in 2 years, because by then you’ll be Canadian too.”  It took me a minute to realize what he was saying until I notice that my 4 year anniversary in Canada is a year from this October and I will be able to apply for my citizenship.

 

As the fireworks continue on, we hold hands with each other, and kiss.  “Happy Canada day to my favorite Canadian” I tell Nate with a smile on my face.  He leans in for another kiss as the grand finale starts with the music of “O Canada” going off somewhere in the background.

 

After the fireworks end, we head back to the campground thoroughly exhausted and ready immediately for bed.

 

We spend day 3 of our road trip on a train.  The Agawa Canyon train to be exact, and we took along with us a picnic lunch to enjoy along with the rugged Canadian wilderness and waterfalls.  Every scene from our train window could easily adorn a postcard, well at least the scenes from the point of leaving town.  The Alcoa plant is not exactly picturesque.  I have not done this particular train journey, though it has been on my list for several years.

 

After getting off the train in the Canyon, it’s easy to see why people love this place.  It’s wooded, quiet (kind of), and just about how everyone in the world pictures the entire country of Canada.  We eat our picnic lunch and head off to explore the miles of nature trails in the park.  The exercise was most needed since we haven’t been able to do much yesterday.

 

July 4th finally rolls around and we head over to the US side of the Soo for the festivities.  The locks park always has a festival going on at this time and the town is adorned in the red, white, and blue.  We eat lunch in one of the restaurants across the street from the locks, get some souvenir candies to take home, and the usual touristy trap stuff.  We eat dinner at the Antlers and I get them to do the whole horns and bells thing for Nate since he had never been there before.  We ate our fill of bison burgers and fries promising to blade them off when we got back to Montreal.  We head off to the riverfront for fireworks night number two, and again we hold on to each other.  During the grand finale Nate leans in for a kiss, and wishes a happy fourth of July to his favorite American.

 

The next morning I make a quick breakfast for us at camp and we pack up to head back to Montreal via Strathroy.  We stopped there for the night and I gave Carmen a gift of some of the fudge we left the Soo with.  She was ever grateful and promises that I’m her favorite son in law in return.  I remember that she can be bought with chocolate, which may come in handy later on.

 

After returning home to Montreal, we spend the rest of the summer as we always have, on the Lachine Canal in our skates.

 

The Gallys return home at the end of August to begin training for the season along with the rest of the team.  We all get together in our townhouse for a housewarming party of sorts.  I’m pretty certain that the team wives were behind pushing us to do this as we wouldn’t normally have bothered.

 

Nate helped me get most of the food ready.  It really meant that he went to the deli and picked up our meat trays and bread.  While his cooking has really improved a lot in the two years we’ve been together, I still barely trust him with more than a pan of hot water.

 

The twins are still begging for their nightly bedtime stories which I oblige them with in French on the nights Brendan and Alex are away otherwise they normally do that as I head home after dinner to spend my evenings with Nate.  On team off days, usually I’m off that day too as Brendan and Alex feel that this is the perfect bonding time with the twins and are also usually hanging out with grandma Galchenyuk.

 

The hockey gods at the NHL were abnormally nice with the holiday schedule for the Habs.  They are home during Canadian Thanksgiving in October with we celebrated with the Gallys at the Galcheyuk’s house.  It was an odd mix of Canadian and Russian cuisine, but everything tasted great.

 

American Thanksgiving was met with a pair of away games.  Tuesday of that week was in Chicago and Friday of that week was in Detroit.  I travelled down to meet the team in Chicago with the twins.  The Gallys and Nate got permission to travel to Detroit on their own; we did this so that we all could head to my Dad’s for Thanksgiving.  This was an event I haven’t been able to do before my marriage to Nate and it felt like an important activity.  It was so important to Brendan, that he instagrammed the whole thing as his first real family American Thanksgiving.  Since all of our relationships were public knowledge in Montreal, we didn’t have to fear all the backlash of not being out.

 

I made a promise to my dad that we will attend future events like this whenever the NHL schedule allows, but that schedule is never really this generous.  After a fantastic time at my dad’s house that afternoon, we left to get to Detroit and the team.  The team used to stay in the Renaissance Center whenever they were in town for more than one night, but apparently it was already booked by the time the schedule came out for the NHL necessitating a trip to the downtown Westin instead.  This was actually a good move as it allowed a bit easier transit to the new arena downtown.  I got to stay in Nate’s room as long as I agreed to reimburse the Canadiens for half the room charge.

 

After my brief stint in Michigan, I get a phone call upon our return to Montreal.  Marc Bergevin wanted to meet with me.  It was a move I hadn’t expected.  The entire time I was heading to the Bell Center, I was imagining the worst news possible, Nate was getting traded or the Gallys were getting traded.  I wasn’t expecting what happened next after walking in his nicely adorned office.

 

I ask him nicely to use English as my French skills haven’t completely rebounded above cursing in the bedroom with Nate and telling stories to the twins in French. 

 

“Adam I wanted to invite you here because I have heard how well you tend to Chucky and Gally’s children, and how fast you got Nate back to us after he came down ill last season.  You were instrumental in keeping the damage to the team minimal.  I wanted to thank you for that.  I want to do a few things for you to reward you for your good work.  First, I consider you a valuable asset to the team and the Canadiens will reward you by allowing you to travel with the team whenever you wish.  It is something you will be doing more if you accept my second offer and complete it.  Secondly, you have a unique background in medicine that I want to exploit.  The Canadiens will pay for you to complete any training you need to license as a pharmacist in Quebec.

 

“We will use this training so you can improve the health of our front office staff and you will assist the doctors with treating the ailments of the team.  It will actually help reduce our team health care costs and will more than pay for your salary.  This is a 5 year commitment that we are investing in you.  By that time the twins will be of an age that your services will be minimal at best.  I have already spoken to Alex and Brendan about this offer and they know that your employment with them will be minimal once the twins enter school.  Please take some time to consider my offer and talk it over with Nate too, he was in the same meeting with Brendan and Alex, so it won’t be a surprise to him.”

 

I shake hands with Marc other than a thank you for his support; I’m at a loss for words otherwise.  I told him I would greatly consider his offer and left the Bell Centre a lot less stressed, but the sweat under my arms is telling a different story.

 

Nate and the Gallys meet me when I get back home.  “We know about the Bergevin meeting.” Alex begins, “and we want you to know that we would love to have you work for both the team and us at the same time.  Besides we already know what a great drug dealer you already are and that is just with the over the counter stuff.”

 

Sasha hears his dad and starts to cry, “You mean Adam won’t be reading us stories anymore?”  His brother starts sobbing with him.

 

I look at the twins, “I will always be here to read you a story whenever Daddy and Papa are out of town.  For now, I’m not travelling with the team.”

 

Nate looks a little like he’s hiding a secret but can’t hold on to it much longer, “I was hoping you would travel with us a little.  I know you are going to be in school, but whenever you are on break from that I was hoping to take you on the road with us.”

 

This was not music to Sasha’s ears and he begins sobbing again.  “Umm Nate dear, we’ll talk about that more later.”  The twins cry so little that I can’t bear to break their hearts, and this moment is eating me alive.  I lean down and hug Sasha to calm him down and speak to him in French to soothe him.  It always seems to work, and I always notice the other twin reacts to whatever emotion is going on with their brother.  Even though they are fraternal twins, they still have a bond I have yet to understand.

 

The adults all agree to talk more about it later after the twins have gone to bed.  We head back to Alex and Brendan’s house for dinner and drinks afterward.

 

About a week later, I offer up my acceptance to Marc and begin working on my application to McGill’s relatively new college of pharmacy.  It seems a little coincidental that I will be one of the first to graduate from the Bergevin School of Pharmacy (gee wonder what happened there!).  My application was accepted a week later, and I start classes in January.

 

The December schedule for the Canadiens was equally as nice as it was for November with only 3 away games in the middle of the month, all which are fairly close by Buffalo, Toronto, and Ottawa which meant that I only had to camp out at Brendan and Alex’s house for 4 nights.  The twins hate when their dads are gone for work, but I make it as comfortable for them with hot coca while watching the game and their favorite French bedtime stories.   I also make sure the game is on in the evening so they can see Papa and Daddy play.  They get so excited now when they get a camera close up of one of the two, and if Uncle Nate, Brendan, or Alex scores the screams in the house are outright deafening.

 

The Christmas schedule comes out and the team is off for Christmas eve, Christmas day and Boxing day.  The rest of the week is all home games all of which I attend with the twins.  Sasha and Brendan now sport Gallagher-Galchenyuk jerseys and I’m sure the equipment team loved trying to squeeze that one in along with the numbers 1127.  I go back to wearing Nate’s jersey to games now that I’m officially his hubby.  Since our seats are right behind the bench, Sasha and Brendan go nuts when they see their dads in the game, and I get a wink from Nate whenever he gets back on the bench.

 

The twins are now almost three, and during the second half of the season I take them out to Brossard to watch morning skates.  Alex, Brendan, and Nate only change back into jeans and head back to the ice to join the twins and I for the twins’ first skating lessons.  It’s cute and endearing although I swear that Brendan falls down just for the fun of it.  They get pretty proficient in short relatively short order.  While the twins enjoy some father/son bonding time, Nate and I use the other half of the ice to refine my lackluster hockey skills.

 

The worst time I had all season this year was when Brendan got a concussion in March.  It was a constant two weeks of vomit and painkiller shots that I’d rather never repeat, but it is hockey after all.  The protocol was simple, a mix of ondansetron and hydromorphone for the headaches and keeping Brendan hydrated and in a dark room.  The hardest part of all was keeping the twins quiet the whole time Brendan went through headache spells.  I camped out at the Gallys the whole time, with Nate joining me in the evenings until everyone went to bed.  I slept very little during this time, because I had to keep waking up Brendan every few hours to dope him up with more drugs.

 

My first semester of school wasn’t too bad and I found out I actually can get into the college of pharmacy faster since some of my bachelor’s degree credits counted as pre-requisites for the program.  I will be done in 4 years and not 5 as would have otherwise been the case.  I only had to do a course in chemistry, biology, anatomy, and calculus each to get further along.

 

Spring rolls into playoff time, and because of the daunting travel schedule of the playoffs, the twins have taken up residence with grandma Galchenyuk leaving me clear to travel with the team, on off nights I Skype my bedtime story to the twins which is soothing enough even though I’m not in the room.  I also make sure that they get to say goodnight to Daddy and Papa. 

 

Even with Brendan’s concussion, I can’t remember a time where I’ve slept less than this considering every night Nate is nothing but a bundle of nerves.  I should have remembered this about him from last season, but the change in pattern seems to throw me off every time.

 

It ends soon enough as the Bruins knock the Habs out in the first round in 5 games.  The team was somber not being able to manage to get a 2nd cup back to back, but the season was grueling enough to be ready for summer.  Nate and I celebrate our third anniversary at the annual end of the season cookout, now hosted by Brendan and Alex after Patch retired last season and Alex and Brendan were made co-captains of the team.

 

After the Gallys leave for Vancouver, Nate announces that our summer will be spent at his family’s cabin in Ontario.  A summer in the Canadian wilderness sounds like music to my ears.


	5. School Daze

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's time for the Gally twins to get registered for school. It's May and the off season just started. This year holds many surprises for Nate and I as we try to build a family of our own, and I enter year 5 of being in Canada making me eligible for citizenship. The Canadiens organization is sure to make it the most memorable day of my life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There is a little hand waiving of timelines in the adoption process in Quebec, but the laws referenced are based on actual ones that I could find.

At the end of the season cookout, Brendan and Alex are actively engaged in Carey Price’s advice on preschool.

“You guys can never start early enough, the twins are 3 now and they need to start forming friends and developing good play habits. A good preschool can help with that. There is one in Dorion I highly recommend, the classes are in English and French it would be perfect for your multilingual household. My oldest is in their elementary school and my youngest starts this year in the 3 year old class, they absolutely love their teachers. I can arrange a tour for you.”

The following day finds the 5 of us sitting in a headmaster’s office at the school Carey recommended. As she works on selling her school to Brendan and Alex, I can tell Alex is hanging off every word she says like the message is all hypnosis. He snaps out of it when, “So would you gentlemen like to see our preschool class?”

It’s a small school building and very nicely decorated for children. I wished my elementary school looked like this. We meet with a nice young educator by the name of Julie. “Welcome to our preschool. Right now they are learning how to be confident to ask others for toys they would like to play with. Manners are required during this exercise.” Alex and Brendan are visibly impressed. “Do you mind if I introduce you? I’m sure there are a couple of hockey fans in the room.”

Alex snaps out of the trance again, “yes, yes of course.”

“Ok class, I have a couple of special guests with me. I would like to introduce you to Alex Galchenyuk and Brendan Gallagher from the Montreal Canadiens. Can you all give Mr. Galchenyuk and Mr. Gallagher a nice welcome?”

The class recites what sounds like a rehearsed welcome, “Welcome to our class Mr. Galchenyuk and Mr. Gallagher.”

“Very good little ones, you are such good students.” Julie exasperates.

They get back to the headmaster’s office, “So when would you like a cheque and when does term start?” I’ve never seen Alex and Brendan so eager to spend money.

“Well we will of course welcome Sasha and Brendan, they look like excellent gentlemen. The new school year begins in September, we will mail you a letter with the specific date in July.”

Nate and I have one more scheduled meeting before leaving for our summer vacation. We had been talking about adopting our own family for months. We thought about the surrogate option, but unlike Brendan, I have no sibilings that fit that bill, Nate being an only child he has no one to ask, and I’m not about to ask a stranger for this help. We are left with adoption.

We arrive to meet with our case worker and by the state of her office it is apparent she is overloaded with cases to find homes for. “We have so many potential cases that would love to have homes, but most of them are teenagers when most want to adopt babies.”

Nate and I look at each other since we’ve had this conversation since we started talking about a family. “We actually want to take on the challenge of adopting a teenager.”

She smiles warmly, “I’m so glad to hear that, would you consider 2? We have twin brothers that have been looking for a forever home for over a year. They’ve transitioned from foster home to foster home. They are 13 and it says here that they are active hockey fans, love fishing, inline skating, and would love to learn to cook. I think they might be a great match for you. Would you like to meet them?”

Nate and I are having trouble hiding our excitement, “We’d love to!” Nate exclaims.

“Well if you’d like we can arrange a supervised visit, just to see your reaction as parents and see if there is some chemistry. If we feel comfortable enough, we then will schedule a home visit at your house to see how you plan to house them and make sure it is up to modern living standards. If all goes well, we then will let them stay with you a week to make sure the adoption is a good match for both the parents and the kids. Then if all goes well we can begin the legal adoption process.

“In the legal adoption process, we first request a placement order. There is a 30 day waiting period awaiting response from the biological parents. Since the boys are over the age of 10, they must also submit their consent to your adoption. This won’t be a problem as their parents have already submitted an affidavit that they no longer wish to be parents, and I expect that these kids will love you two. We can use that to expedite the placement order, but generally the courts will still wait. After the placement order, the children must reside in your home. Once six months have passed, an adoption order motion is then placed before the courts, where you will officially become the parents of the twins and can choose to change their names if you wish, but at this age I don’t recommend that. Do you have any questions for me?”

“When can we meet the boys?” I ask with a longing look.

“Well if you are free this afternoon, we can meet them after school as it is just a couple blocks away from here. I believe they get out at 3pm, which allows us all time for lunch and I need to call the school and the foster parents to let them know the plan.”

We eat lunch in stressed anticipation. Nate looks at me, “So do you think we can raise teenagers? I’m only 16 years older than them…” He looks at me for guidance.

“Nate there are many things I know about teenagers. First, if you can think like one you can take care of them. Second, they like people they can look up to, and I think your job can help you with that one. They need to know there is a future for them.”

“Adam, I’m so nervous. It’s not the usual before game nervous, I’m flat out stressing about this. What if they don’t like us, what if we have to do this over and over. It’s like dating only worse.”

“Nate they are going to love you, maybe a little gesture from us might break the ice.”

“You mean bribe them?”

“Sure you got a couple headshots you can autograph for them?”

“Do I have… Adam you are a fucking genius.”

“I know, that’s why you love me.”  
We head over to the Quebec version of secondary school called la secondaire. Our case worker is waiting for us outside the building. She ushers us in and we register with the administration as guests in the building.

“I am going to meet with them to let them know what is going on. Since they love hockey, it might be a shock to them to hear that a NHL player is considering adopting them.”

I chime in to make her smile, “I’m familiar with that shock when this one asked me out.”

She gives off the awkward smile as we enter an office labelled as “Student Services” and are offered a conference room. “Just stay here as I pick up the twins, I will be back in a couple of minutes.”

The few minutes pass and in walks our case worker and two very young men, “No way Nathan Beaulieu and his husband want to adopt us?” Twin one states. Twin two looks over at the case worker, “Is this a joke?”

“I assure you boys that this is no joke. When I told Nate and Adam what you are interested in, they practically glowed with delight. Why don’t you four take a moment to get acquainted? The door will be open here so I can monitor the exchange, but please be yourselves.”

The twins which are clearly fraternal twins share dishwater blonde hair and green eyes. The one with shorter spikier hair introduces himself as Connor and the other twin introduces himself as Marc and sports the Justin Beiber style hairdo.”

We go through most of the pleasantries including the perks of being the child of a NHL player. They were floored when they heard that they get tickets to any game they want. I place the condition that they have to complete their homework to go. Connor and Marc were also thrilled to hear they would have to sit with another set of twins, those being Sasha and Brendan. I showed them pictures of Sasha and Brendan on my phone and they are instantly ready to be as near to brothers as possible.

The twins mention that they have their skates and permission to be away from their foster home until dinner if we wanted to go. The case worker comes in and states that she needs to join us and that she too has skates in her car. We pile into my Jeep with everyone’s gear properly stowed and head toward Parc Angrignon.

The five of us slowly skate with the caseworker bringing up the rear yet remaining in earshot of our conversation. We skate around the park for about an hour and the twins ask us everything about our lives. What it’s like to be an NHL player. Where are we from? How did we meet? I feel like I was going through immigration all over again, but with much easier questions to answer.

At the end of the hour, the twin pair asks when we can meet again. I turn to the case worker, “well tomorrow I will come by Nate and Adam’s place to make sure they have adequate space for you. If so then we can try a pilot week to see if you like them and they like you.”

“Until we meet again, would you two like an autographed picture to remember us by?”

The twins look instantly star struck as Nate signs then hands over autographed pictures. Our home visit is the next morning, so we went quickly to a furniture store to get the requisite beds, desks, and dressers for 2 of our 3 spare bedrooms.

Nate wakes up to direct the furniture delivery guys around the house while I head out to get bed sheets, towels, and stop by Bell Center to pick up 2 Beaulieu jerseys they had made for us that night.

I get back just in time to decorate the rooms, and place a Beaulieu jersey over the foot end of each bed. The walls are a little bare right now, but I know most teens prefer to cover them in their own preferred artwork. The doorbell rings to announce our case worker’s arrival.

“This is very nice space that you have here,” she begins.

She asks us the details of the house. How big is it, how many bedrooms (4), bathrooms (2.5). We also mention the basement that serves as Nate’s gym and also a game room down there with a pool table and air hockey table. It is very apparent from the smile on her face, that she is impressed with our home.

“Shall I bring the twins over for a supervised weekend? I will of course be here to monitor what is going on in your guest room with the door open.”

We head over to Alex and Brendan’s house for dinner that night and announce tell them the news about us adopting a pair of teenage twins. We also told them that our twins want to meet their twins. They postpone their original plans to leave for Vancouver tomorrow, offering instead for a signature Alex Galchenyuk pelmeni dinner with all houseguests invited.

Nate and I are visibly stressed the following morning. Connor and Marc arrive just before lunchtime with the case worker. They are carrying backpacks which I presume contains all their worldly belongings.

Nate and I give them a tour of the house, they looked rather unimpressed until we went downstairs, purposely saving their bedrooms as the grand finale. As we tour the house the case worker is walking behind us taking vigorous notes. We all head downstairs; the boys get a look at the gym and are visibly struck by all the equipment it contains. I turn to them, “Well if you like this, open the door across the hall.”

Connor and Marc now have a look like Christmas came very early this year. “This is the coolest room in the house! Air hockey and pool, we need to play doubles pool after dinner tonight!” I can feel the case worker grinning in the background.

Nate feeling pleased about events so far announces that we should head upstairs and allow the twins to settle in while Nate and I get lunch ready.

As we introduce them to their bedrooms, I mention to Connor and Marc, “Each bedroom for you is the same size, your shared bathroom is across the hall. We know they don’t look like much now, but we can always change stuff around later.”

They both pick a door with a pleased look that indicates that they share a room in a foster home, and that they are glad that they now will have a little privacy in their lives. I hear the doors open, and almost instantly upon walking in their respective rooms, I hear loud screaming. “ARE THESE FOR FREAKING REAL!?!?!?!”

Nate smiles and replies calmly, “They’re real.”

Nate and Connor walk back out of their rooms and practically tackle us in to the wall behind us in a hug. It was the warmest feeling I’ve had, probably because I can feel a rush of blood to my face since the social worker is 2 feet to my left scribbling feverishly on her clipboard.

“Well guys, take about 30 minutes to get situated. If you need to take a shower or use the restroom, feel free. There are towels, washcloths, soap, and shampoo for you to use.” I begin, “lunch will be ready in 30 minutes downstairs. It will be a family lunch, we then have a family afternoon skate on the canal, come back to get ready to have dinner with Alex, Brendan, and their twins. We’re having one of Alex’s Russian specialties for dinner and I assure you it’s devine.”

Connor is visibly shocked at his new surroundings, “We are having dinner with more Canadiens? This is way too much to take in.”

Having been there myself just 4 short years ago, “We’ll have time to talk about your new life over the weekend. I know kind of what you are going through. I came here from Michigan to help the Gallys take care of their twins, and being in this lifestyle is a little shocking at first I agree. Just so you know, you’ll come back to earth when you get a whiff of the Canadiens’ locker room after a game.” I made a smelly face at the last sentence, and the twins laugh and turn to head into their rooms to take in their new surroundings.

As we head down to make lunch, we show our case worker her room for the night. She sets down her suitcase and walks down to watch us make lunch. She comments from the breakfast bar, “Well you two know how to make a first impression. I am going to actually head upstairs and talk briefly with the twins alone for a moment. By their reaction, it appears they approve of their new parents, but I actually have to hear it from them personally.”

She walks back upstairs; I smile at Nate and offer him a passionate kiss as I wait for the oven broiler to preheat. “Looks like we are becoming parents, this will be fun!” I cut up some potatoes for homemade potato chips and get baguettes ready to become oven toasted roast beef and provolone sandwiches. Apparently the great smells in the kitchen reach the upstairs bedrooms as a crowd gathers at the breakfast bar. I finish seasoning the chips, and plate up a sandwich for each of us with a generous portion of chips.

“I’ve never had warm potato chips, these are incredible!” Marc exclaims.

Our social worker is writing more frantic notes, at the rate she’s writing, I’m expecting a novel by Monday. After we get done eating, we send the twins up to get their skates ready to go and she states, “The twins are excited about the adoption, with your blessing I can file a motion for placement with the courts on Monday.” There is the matter of our agency fee of $10,000 per child normally, but since you are adopting twins the second child is half price. A total of $15,000 will be due when I file the placement motion.”

Nate smiles at the social worker, “That won’t be a problem. Will that be cheque or charge?”

“A cheque will safice.” She asserts,

“We’re ready to move forward.” Nate replies.

“That’s wonderful news, do you want to tell the twins during the skate then?”

“We’d be delighted.” I reply.

We all change into skates, and get ready to head out to the Lachine Canal. Just before we cross the Old Port trail, we turn around to the twins, “We just want you to know that we want to be your forever home, Nate has instructed madame over there to file the paperwork Monday.”

A smile larger than the Saint Lawrence beams across Marc and Connor’s faces, my heart melts a little more.

We decide to make our skate a short 8 miles today, mainly because our social worker looks like she might pass out. We walk in the door, and I mix her a glass of water with electrolytes. The rest of us enjoy a tall glass of chocolate milk.

We sit down to go over some basic house rules. Homework completion is required for any game attendance, lights out is 10pm or within 30 minutes after coming home on game nights, any evening out with friends must be approved by both Nate and I, there is an expectation that they participate in the making of family meals, and lastly manners are important and insubordination will not be tolerated.

The twins agree to the rules of the house, and the social worker nods her approval as well, continuing to make extensive notes on the conversation. We excuse the twins up to shower and get dressed for dinner. Our case worker acknowledges that the rules are fair and firm. We excuse ourselves to shower and get ready for dinner ourselves.

As we shower, “Nate this is wonderful, we get to have two great kids hopefully soon!” I kiss my husband passionately under the wonderfully warm water of our shower. Owing to a time crunch we limit our intimate time to washing each other and getting out quickly. 

We await the twins and the social worker in the living room. The twins are dressed in nice jeans, and are taking this opportunity to wear their new jerseys for the first time. Our social workers arrives downstairs dressed in a nice pantsuit, we normally would have grabbed a nice bottle of wine to take with us, but resist the urge to do so in front of the person deciding whether or not we are to become parents.

“So how far away do we have to travel for our dinner date?” our social worker asks.

I reply, “Just 2 doors down is all, we bought this townhouse to be close to our friends.”

We arrive at the Gallys, and since we are essentially family, we don’t bother to knock. 

The moment we walk in Sasha blurts out “Oncle Nate, Adam! Papa, our guests are here!”

Alex walks over with Brendan and Brendan in tow. “So good to see all of you, I’m…”

Marc can’t resist, “Alex Galchenyuk and Brendan Gallagher! I’m Marc and this is my twin brother Connor.”

Alex smiles, “yup that’s us. The tall twin is Sasha, and the Gallagher clone is the other Brendan in the house. They’re our three year old twins. They just got registered for preschool last week. I see your new family has got you the proper attire. I guess I’m staring at the number 28 more at home games this season.”

“What cuties,” the social worker says while exhaling. Sasha beams and young Brendan exhibits the patented Gallagher smile.

We all sit down to eat, and not surprisingly the core digs right into their pelmeni. Marc and Connor look suspiciously at the dinner placed in front of them. I lean into them and tell them what’s in the dumplings. “It’s ground beef, carrots, and potatoes. Think of it as a smaller version of tourtiere.” They pick off a little bite each, nod their approval and then proceed to embark on the teenage male feeding ritual of eating ravenously.

Dinner conversation involved allowing each pair of twins to get to know each other. When Sasha and Brendan announced that they are done, they invited their new much older friends to go up and have Marc and Connor read them a bed time story.

Marc and Connor come back down without their new found friends. “Sasha and Brendan passed out before we got to page 3.”

“Yeah they do that,” I reply. “Well Brendan and Alex, we promised these boys doubles pool at home. So I think it’ll be good night for us for now. If you want, you can stop by for lunch tomorrow before you leave for Vancouver.”

“We’ll be there. Then see how these two do at air hockey.”

As we make the short walk back, Marc notes, “You guys are so normal off the ice, you just get to live in nicer houses. That was a lot of fun, and I think I made a buddy in little Brendan. So when can we stay for good? I’m sick of being bounced from house to house like a ping pong ball.”

Our case worker chimes in, “Well, let me phone the foster parents in the morning, but I don’t think they’ll object to you taking them now and we can get some custodian paperwork while the adoption works its way through the courts.”

I smile and relax a little, “Thank you, we’d love to take these guys full time.”

We get home and head downstairs to play our promised doubles game of pool. We let the twins have the break, and these kids are no joke with a pool stick. Marc pockets 3 balls off the break, Nate looks on and rolls his eyes. They take a second shot and put the 12 in the side, more shots and more sunken balls, they get to the 8 ball and sink it too.

Nate chirps in, “Nice game, was fun to watch.”

Marc smiles, and after a second straight loss to the twins this time to Connor, we head to bed for what we hope is an eventful day tomorrow.

Nate and I wake fairly early to make breakfast. I make a killer waffle baking a little cinnamon and sugar into each one (it makes the iron a bitch to clean but tastes wonderful), and I finally trust Nate to make Bacon without triggering a call to the fire department. The smell emanates up the stairs, and within minutes the sound of waking teenagers makes its way back down the stairs the smell of bacon went up. The twins arrive to the breakfast looking a little disheveled, and bleary eyed. They are each offered a glass of orange juice and a second glass of milk as Nate and I take on a cup of coffee each. 

Muffled conversation floats down the stairs since our guest room is located right at the top of the stairs, as the social worker descends the steps, “…You have been wonderful to them, I’m glad we could find them a home and that you are willing to let them move this week. I’ll let my clients know, you are a peach I’ll be in touch soon. Au revoir! 

“Good morning gentlemen, I have good news! Marc and Connor’s foster parents have agreed to let you take custody of them right away. We will meet them at 3pm to sign over custody. Marc and Connor thought you’d hit it off and already packed everything over the last few days, so the foster parents will bring their belongings with them. We can also fill out the court papers necessary to start the adoption while we are there if you can present the cheque today.”

“I can do that!” Nate exclaims. Marc and Connor join us in a group hug. More feverish notes were taken by the social worker.

We ate our fill of waffles and bacon and took the twins for a morning skate. It was a light one hour skate along the old port because we have a lunch date with the Gallys.

We quickly arrive back home, and I throw together some breaded chicken breasts in the oven and move to preparing my pesto pasta dish. Forty minutes later, my oven announces that my chicken is done, so I take them out to rest and get Marc to drain and mix the pasta. The look of disgust at a green food reminds me of my younger brother. I offer him a taste of the mixed pasta, and he nods in agreement that it tastes okay. Little does he know that some of the “basil” is spinach. The Gally’s arrive for lunch, and we all sit at the table. Marc tells little Brendan that he even helped make the lunch they are eating and that the pasta is really good. The Gallys have had this meal before so the look of green pasta isn’t foreign to the Gally twins. Marc then looks at Connor who is visibly disturbed by the color of the food presented, and assures him that the food tastes great. Connor relaxes and shoves a forkful of pasta in his mouth, and nods his approval as well before the male teenage feeding ritual takes over once again where lunch is devoured at a rapid rate.

Nate and I follow the Gallys to the airport, while our social worker takes Marc and Connor back to her office to start writing up the paperwork for their custody and placement in our home.

Nate drives Alex’s truck back to their townhouse and places it gently in the garage and joins me back in my Jeep. We drive back to the adoption agency, Nates legs are shaking nervously, so I place a hand on his left thigh and squeeze. “It will be okay Nate.” Nate visibly relaxes.

We enter our social worker’s office and are joined by two additional people who I assume are Marc and Connor’s foster parents. “We are so excited that you two clicked well with Marc and Connor. When they first met you, they didn’t stay quiet the whole night with excitement. There are a couple of things you do need to know.”

“First, they have shared a room since they joined us after their parents were incapacitated by a car accident 3 years ago. They are very close to each other and often converse with each other sometimes late into the night, it comforts each other. I understand that they will have their own rooms at your house, so don’t be surprised if one sneaks over to the others. We did notice that they sometimes sleep with each other, not sexually of course, but we have found them both in one bed before. As they get older, you may have to choose how you deal with that. They are also bilingual if you haven’t already figured that out and the school they attend is a French immersion school.

“We’ve been reading the notes that your case worker has been taking all weekend. She’s very thorough and you two seem like you’ll be awesome parents. We have already signed custody over to you and we have their belongings in our car for you as well.”

Our social worker chimes in, “Thank you, you may step outside and say good bye to Connor and Marc, Nate and Adam have a little more paperwork to sign.”

The twins’ foster parents leave the room, and I can hear them embrace Marc and Connor.

“Nate and Adam, you have made an exemplary presentation that will help me convince the courts to sign your placement order. Normally you would have to wait 30 days for a placement order before you get the twins to live with you, but I convinced the courts to expedite this case owing to the long time the twins have been in foster care, the fact that the twins consented to the adoption, and the incapacity of the birth parents. I have drawn up the legal documents for a court hearing, you case will be heard this Thursday at 10am at which time you will receive your placement order allowing the twins officially into your home. In the meantime the foster parents outside have signed custody over to you in the interim. This will allow you to act as parents until the placement order is put in place by the courts. I also need to ask you, do you want to change anything on the twins’ names?”

Nate and I hadn’t thought about that part, I ask, “I think their first and middle names should stay the same can we just use a hyphenated last name of Nate and I or maybe just Nate’s since he’s footing the bill here?”

She looks back smiling, “Yes, if all you want to change is the last name that is fine.”

Nate nods his approval, “then we just want to change their last name to Beaulieu.”

“What about you dear?”

“I’m okay with it just being Beaulieu, my name is still on their adoption papers and that is enough for me. They should really have your name though since they are going to be wearing it at every home game. Besides, I never get sick of seeing ‘beautiful place’ whenever you name is display, because the twins will be in a beautiful place.”

Nate sighs and looks lovingly into my eyes, “Beaulieu it is.”

The social worker scribbles on more paperwork, “Ok so first I need to collect your adoption fee cheque.”

Nate signs the cheque and hands it over to the social worker.

“Now I will need you both to sign the following 4 court documents, the first two are motions for a placement orders for Marc and Connor, the second two are name change requests for Marc and Connor respectively.”

Nate and I divide and conquer. I sign the name change orders while he signs the motions. After 2 signatures, we trade and sign again. We hand the papers over to our case worker and she witnesses our signatures. “Congratulations Adam and Nate, we are complete for now, we will see you at 10am on Thursday. Go out and collect your new family.”

We exit the office and head out with the twins and their former foster parents to collect their belongings. After putting them back in the Jeep, I have Nate drive home so I can call my dad. “Dad, hey can you come to Quebec Wednesday. We have some people you want to meet. Don’t panic about a plane ticket. I’ll get it booked for you since it’s my surprise. See you Wednesday.”

I then call Delta and get my dad booked on a pair of flights from Grand Rapids via Detroit. It’s a little pricey due to the short notice, but I have money stashed away courtesy of my salary from the Gallys.

We get home and turn to the twins, “Welcome home officially, but we are only staying the night here. We’re heading down to see grandma and grandma Beaulieu in the morning for a couple of days. Get settled and come back down to help make dinner.”

Marc and Connor jump upstairs throw their stuff into their room and fly back down. “What are we having?”

I open the fridge, “let’s see there’s salmon, chicken, nope I got it… 4 steaks. Marc and Connor I need you to scrub these four potatoes and cut them up into 3cm cubes. I salt the steaks and put them on the back counter while I prep some foil and chop an onion to put with the potatoes. Nate seasons the potatoes and onions while I add a bunch of butter to them. Marc seals up the foil and shoves the package in the oven to bake.

I get out the cast iron double burner skillet, dry off the water pooled on the steaks and add the rest of the seasonings. Nate turns to the twins, “You can have your steak any way you want it as long as its medium rare. You other dad here only seems to cook them that way, but it is delicious”

Marc and Connor reply in unison, “We trust you, while you finish up we’ll be downstairs playing air hockey.”

The moment gives Nate and I little privacy to kiss passionately while Nate still dons his “Kiss the Chef” apron.

I take the steaks off the griddle and take the potato pocket out of the oven. Turn back to Nate for more making out. It figures that is when Connor and Marc come back up “Gross the rents are KISSING! Ugh!” I laugh into the kiss as Nate smiles.

“I guess this means dinner is ready,” Nate laughs out.

“Love you dear, let’s eat”

We sit down to eat and it’s fine time to have a semi-serious talk about the whole sharing the bed thing. “So your foster parents let slip that you guys sleep in the same bed sometimes, care to tell us what that is about.”

Marc sighs, “Ever since our parents’ car accident we often have nightmares, we found that the way to deal with it seems to be to sleep next to each other. It doesn’t happen every night, but many nights we have to comfort each other.” I can understand the whole post-traumatic stress nightmares and how someone comfortable next to you seeming to make all the difference.

I share that experience with them then knowing teenagers, “just be aware that as you two get older some things may happen to make it awkward to do that.”

I don’t spell it out, but sex is what I’m implying. Marc speaks up, “we know what you are getting at Adam, and full confession, yes we both are gay that is why people have been having a hard time adopting us, but we’re glad you did. We know where to draw the line with each other though.”

“Okay, just don’t want to have this talk later on when something does happen. So either of you have a boyfriend that we need to be aware of?”

They look at each other, “Not yet.” The twins reply in unison.

We head downstairs for 2 on 2 air hockey and it was a game with a fevered pitch. Nate and I are determined to beat our new sons at something. After a win of 25-21, the NHL player and his husband proudly announce that it is bedtime, we have to be up at the crack of dawn for the flight down to London.

We wake up early the next morning, our flight leaves at 7:15am, the twins are showered by 5:30, Nate and I ended up taking one together, jacking each other off quickly since we won’t have any privacy for the next two evenings. We get to the airport and Nate lets slip that London doesn’t have many jet flights. Sure enough we get to the gate, and sitting outside is a turbo prop.

“Nate dear, I haven’t been on one of these since I was in college. I didn’t know they even still used these outside Alaska, the Yukon, Northwest Territories, and Nunavut.” The twins were visibly impressed that I could name all 4 of those locations without consulting a globe.

“If you think this is bad dear, you should see what Air Canada flies you on to get to Churchill, Manitoba. I still have nightmares about that flight.”

We board and it is quite hilarious watching Nate try to shrink his 6’3” tall body to fit in the door, but I still can’t ignore his ass in my face. The twins noticed me looking to, a chirp at me, “Dad keep your eyes up there man!” I laugh and shake my head and board the plane. We take off and land in Ottawa for a quick boarding of additional passengers. Four hours after we took off from Montreal, we land in London. As we get off the plane, Nate laughs at me as I try to regain feeling in my feet again. I thought 3 hours on a prop plane from Cincinnati to Grand Rapids was bad enough, but that 4th hour required a dose of muscle relaxants for me.

We get to the rental car agency and get a small SUV for the next couple of days. I tell Nate that I’m not in a condition to drive, so he does. We get to Carmen and Jacques Beaulieu’s residence just after noon.

Just like my first visit to the Beaulieus, Carmen and Jacques are waiting for us in the driveway. We all jump out, Carmen hugs Nate then me, and we introduce the twins to their new grandparents, more hugging ensues.

We get skates out and play some street hockey with the twins while Jacques throws some burgers on the grill in the backyard. For a brief moment in the street it looked like Montreal had 4 number 28’s. Marc and Nate beat Connor and I, shocker I know but half their team plays for the NHL.

We stay the night, then head out to Stratford with Carmen and Jacques the next day in Jacques Hummer since we needed space for 6 slightly larger human beings. The twins were visibly impressed with the toy store downtown, and we let them get a couple of gifts to give Sasha and Brendan when they return from Vancouver. They also pick up some magic trick kits they can use to play with their new twin buddies. We attended a play of “Romeo and Juliet” this year after a brief lunch at a downtown bistro. Grandma and Grandpa Beaulieu are taking every opportunity to spoil their new grandchildren.

After the play, we head to dinner in London and Carmen takes the twins clothes shopping. After dropping an easy thousand dollars on a new wardrobe for the twins, we head back to Strathroy for the night. We have an early flight out with a layover in Toronto in hopes of arriving before my dad does in Montreal.

We do arrive before my dad does, by about an hour and a half, so we get lunch with the twins in the international terminal. My dad arrives and we hug briefly, he also hugs Nate. We introduce the twins to him and announced that this is their other grandpa. My dad tells me he’s thilled that I finally had kids.

We head back to our townhouse and get my dad situated in the guest room. I send the twins down to get start working on dinner. I did it Iron Chef style and tell them their secret ingredients are chicken and green beans.

I hear the oven preheat, and the door open and close as Nate and I head downstairs to play a game of 8 ball with my dad watching on. About 15 minutes after the oven starts, I smell bacon and garlic in a sauté pan which I assume will also house some green beans.

Another 15 minutes later, the twins announce that dinner is ready. They made baked chicken breasts, and sautéed green beans in potatoes, bacon, and garlic. My father announces that dinner looks fantastic and thanks the twins for making it.

I have to admit for two 13 year olds making dinner, this was fantastic. They had some nice seasoning and browning on the chicken and it is still moist. The green beans were crispy, salty, and the potatoes nicely browned. As I get up to the clear off plates, Marc makes an announcement.

“Wait up, we even made dessert!” Marc announces.

“I don’t remember you baking anything.”

“No but we found a graham cracker crust, pudding, and cool whip. So we made a chocolate cream pie. Hope it turned out good.”

It turned out great as they served it up. I need to teach them my apple tart recipe sometime.

My dad sat with the twins as Nate and I cleaned up dinner. I can hear him ask what they want to do after they graduate. Marc mentions that he wants to go to culinary school and Connor wants to do hospitality management in college. For being 13, these twins are surprisingly mature. 

The following morning, we all head out in my Jeep to the courthouse. Today is the day we officially get the twins. We all have a seat waiting for our case to be called. The judge calls us up, and I momentarily forgot that in Quebec all court proceedings are done in French. Before the judge fires off his prompts, I kindly ask the court for a translator. My French is getting better, but I’m not fluent yet!

Courtesy of the translator, the twins are asked if they consent to the adoption, which they agreed that they are. The case worker is asked if there are any objections to the adoption, “I have affidavits that the birth parents are unable to care for Marc and Connor, your honor.”

The judge resumes rapid fire French stating, “As there are no objections and the case worker agrees that the adoption is in the best interests of the children. The motion for a Placement Order is so ordered with the consent of the crown. As to the request for a name change of Marc and Connor to reflect the new last name of Beaulieu, that motion is also so ordered, henceforth their new names shall be reflected as ordered. Judgement is entered and court is adjourned, this case reconvenes in December to approve the final adoption order with the blessing of all parties. Congratulations to you all.”

We spend the next couple of days with my dad taking him out to parc Jean-Drapeau for a picnic and see the fort. We also spend a few hours in La Ronde. The weather now feeling more summer like by the day, and we can’t resist breaking out the skates while my dad takes an afternoon nap at home.

Monday arrives, and the week we got the twins off at school expires, my father heads back home to Michigan. The new rush of getting them out the door and on the metro in the morning begins. Thankfully for us, we only have 3 weeks of this before their summer holiday starts. We get to the school with the twins with about 15 minutes to spare this morning and present our new court orders granting us custody to school officials and they make note of that in their computers.

The next 3 weeks pass by in a blur of packing lunches, homework, and evening family skates with the longer days. It feels oddly domestic, but Nate and I have been off for the summer since the beginning of May.

We get everything packed up to head out to the cottage for the summer. I thought that Nate had told me the cottage was in Ontario. I heard wrong, it’s in Manitoba. So 2 days after leaving Montreal (spending the night in Sault Ste. Marie), we get to the cottage late in the evening on the second day.

There’s plenty for the twins to do as the cottage is on a lake. The following afternoon grants us a visit from our neighbors, Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane. I’m pretty sure everyone in the province could hear the twins when these two walked in the door. I either expected that response, or for them to pass out. We introduce our children to Patrick and Jonny, and they are ecstatic, more so after we told them the twins could cook, which prompted us to make them cook the fish they caught while we went out back and had a drink on the deck. We had dinner on the deck that night, a dinner for 6 with fish and salad for dinner. Was simple, but delicious, and I can’t wait to send Marc to culinary school.

Marc’s cooking ability helps sustain us as the twins go fishing nearly every day the weather permits. I wish he could join a high school culinary program like the one at the school where I did my student teaching, but those programs are not offered in Montreal to my dismay. I convince Nate that we could sign up for cooking classes as a family and he agreed. 

If the twins aren’t fishing, they are swimming or playing pool in the basement. They don’t seem to get bored like most teenagers. A couple of times during the summer they would get invited by Jonny and Pat to go boating on the lake. It is a fun summer for the twins, but August arrives and we have to head back for the annual family ritual of back to school shopping since 3 of us head back to class in just 2 weeks along with the Gallys’ twins. Once we got into cell phone range, we make a day with the Gallys to do just that in 3 days when we all get back to town.

It turns out that back to school shopping takes on an extended family affair as Alex, Brendan, and Nates’ parents all show up to go with us and I feel like we should have rented our own metro train to do all the shopping necessary. We head to the Centre Eaton to start the madness, and given the fact that we are shopping for teenagers, I’m glad to have Jacques and Carmen to help carry the bags. Alex and Brendan’s load is significantly lighter given the fact that the clothes are smaller.

We end up the fun at Staples near Gare Centrale to get the necessary pens, pencils, binders, notebooks, and backpacks for the twins. Marc and Connor start asking why I need school supplies realizing I haven’t told them that I’m in school too. “Um the Habs are paying for me to become a pharmacist for the team, I’m only in my first of 3 years though.”

We get through back to school shopping and I’m thankful that Nate has a new $2 million contract as of last year. We head out to dinner having to rent out a conference room at Nate’s favorite Italian place to fit us all in.

September hits and my new work schedule kicks in. I get Marc and Connor off to the Metro by 7 so they get to school on time, then I head over to the Gallys’ to get Sasha and Brendan in the car and to school by 8, then fly low back to McGill for my classes that start at 9. I then stay in class until about 2 and head to Marc and Connor’s school to pick them up, then race to get Sasha and Brendan from preschool in Dorion and pray I don’t get stuck in rush hour traffic on the way home.

The twins are surprisingly diligent with their homework, apparently the threat of not being allowed to go to hockey games is enough inspiration to get it done. As the preseason starts, it’s almost humorous how many seats are arranged for us at Bell Centre right along the bench glass. It quickly becomes known amongst the player’s wives that our seats are the Gally and Beaulieu cheering section, since there are 3 jerseys advertising number 28 and two with the odd looking appearance of 1127, over the summer we had the equipment team finally add the “C” to their jerseys upon upgrading them one size due to growth.

After the first game, we head down to the locker room hallway, and Marc and Connor finally get what I mean about the smell. After 3 years of this odor, I’m used to it, but Marc and Connor look like someone put a skunk under their nose. As the arena clears out, Alex, Brendan, and Nate join us in the hallway for a postgame skate. Alex takes Sasha by the hand and Brendan take his own namesake with him. Since our kids can skate on their own without taking a nose dive, Nate and I go hand-in-hand onto the ice. It’s always this first skate that reminds me I’m not on rollerblades and forgetting that I don’t have a brake pad.

The first snowfall of the season is magically early this year occurring in the middle of October, and luckily enough for us happens on an off day for the Canadiens. Since it’s Friday, we give Marc and Connor the option of doing homework on Saturday if they help us ambush the Gallys with a snowball fight. It turns they were waiting for us. During a cease fire moment, Sasha, Nate, Connor, and I end up against Brendan, Brendan, Alex, and Marc. After using up a sufficient amount of snow much of it went down Nate’s coat soaking his undershirt, we decide to call a truce and we all head back to our house for some hot cocoa. We got out the small air hockey set for Sasha and Brendan to play against Connor and Marc. The four have quickly become fast friends even though they are 10 years apart in age.

Since October arrived, I’m now eligible to apply for Canadian citizenship. We headed to the immigration office in Montreal as a family so I could submit the application in person. I’m scheduled for my citizenship exam and interview on Halloween. Now in addition to my studies at McGill, I have to study to be Canadian. I show my sample exam questions to Brendan and Nate, and even they admit they couldn’t answer half these questions. I study my ass off anyway, and on the day of the exam, the interviewer was easily impressed. I took my citizenship exam and was told that I passed but my exam results would arrive in a week.

That evening, Brendan took both sets of twins out trick or treating while Nate, Alex, and I hung back to pass out candy to the neighborhood kids. They all comeback with satchels full of goodies which we hide in our respective homes to allocate out to them in order to avoid sugar rushes and sickness; I take both sets of twins for the evening back to our townhouse as Alex and Brendan are hosting the Habs for their annual Halloween party. I hold sentry in the living as with any other party the Habs have that goes late into the night. Sasha went to bed with Connor and Brendan chose to go to bed with Marc. Sometime after midnight, Nate stumbles home and I drunk march him to bed handing him all the necessary hangover prevention medications.

A week later, and I officially pass my citizenship test. I will be sworn in as a Canadian citizen sometime in December. Happy birthday to me, and O Canada!

The Canadiens were home for American Thanksgiving and since it will be my last as an American citizen, I invite my entire family up for the event. Nate convinces them to stay for an additional 2 weeks. He wanted them to be here when the adoption of our twins was finalized.

The twins were there to help me cook dinner, and quite frankly I was happy to have all the hands I could get in the kitchen. Nate makes the one bread he doesn’t need a recipe for, I handle turkey. The twins were on potato, gravy, vegetable, and dessert duty.

I finally got to show Marc how to make my apple tart using whiskey, sugar, cinnamon, butter, and pie crust. He executes the recipe flawlessly without us having to call the fire department. Dinner itself is received well by all family members present which now includes the Gallys whenever possible.

On December 5th Nate’s 30th birthday he provides me with a surprise that the Habs have been planning over the last few months, the family court of Montreal holds a special session in Bell Centre. We were finally able to petition for an adoption order for Marc and Connor, and since there were 5 other cases that were ready to be ordered out, the Canadiens held “Adoption Night” at the Bell Centre, offering free tickets to the other newly minted 5 families.

The PA announcer goes on about how adoptions are finding homes for hundreds of Canadians every year, “And this year the Habs are proud to call one of their own the father of adopted teenagers, please turn your attention to the ice as Nathan Beaulieu and his husband Adam, their adopted twins, and 5 other families receive the order to become families at last.” The crowd goes berserk as Nate offers a stick salute.

“It is my distinct honour as justice of the Family Court of Montreal to decree on this 5th Day of December that the adoption orders requested by the families present are approved by the court, you have all demonstrated that being a parent is more than blood and genetics, it is about providing a welcoming home to a child who needs the love and support parenthood provides. It is so ordered and approved by the Crown!” The crowd erupts in applause as Nate and I group hug with our twins.

The Habs cheerleader leans over to me, “Adam, Nate made sure that we have one other surprise for you for his birthday.”

The justice then turns to me and I know instantly what he is about to do, “Adam, will you please raise your right hand and repeat after me…. ‘I swear that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to His Majesty King William IV, King of Canada, His Heirs and Successors, and that I will faithfully observe the laws of Canada and fulfil my duties as a Canadian citizen.’”

I repeat everything the justice just told me wherever he broke for my reply, and he holds out his hand to shake it. “Congratulations on becoming a Canadian Citizen Adam!” Nate leans in and kisses me in front of a crowd of 20,000 plus cheering insanely loud for me. Before I’m ushered off the ice, they make me stand there. “Mesdames et Messeurs, for the singing of the national anthem, we turn to you. Please welcome our newest Canadian with the singing of O Canada with help on the help on the organ from Madam Dian Debeau.”

During the whole anthem with Nate and the twins standing with me, I’m brought to tears. Nate was also trying to hold his composure while holding and squeezing my hand, but it was a losing battle. Twenty plus thousand people just welcomed me as the newest member of their country and it was overwhelming. After the anthem was over, I waved at the crowd and left the ice with my family to take out seats.

After all the fanfare, the crowd remains electric as less than one minute into the game Nate scores assisted by Alex. As he heads back to the bench he looks up at our seats and blows a kiss. Welcome to Canada indeed.

How I managed the stress leading up to Christmas is beyond me. Between shuffling the kids of 2 families to school, final exams for me, and the Canadiens being on the road for most of that; I’m surprised I didn’t have a coronary. My only saving grace was that I didn’t have to worry about attending any games at Bell Centre during that time, but did have to host one of the watch parties with the WAG and HAB group joined along with Brendan who pulled a groin muscle just before the team left and is listed as day-to-day.

Nate and the rest of the team return from winning 4 straight on the road out west just days before Christmas. With a Christmas Eve matinee game this year, I’m left to prep the holiday part at the Gallys’ house almost by myself. Marc and his buddy little Brendan luckily took pity on me and stayed behind to help. I cleaned up the house while Marc and Brendan cooked up a storm in the kitchen. After having many cooking classes on off nights for the Habs, I have to admit that Marc really could have the talent to become a first rate chef.

The Christmas Eve party as always is well attended. The Galchenyuks, and Gallaghers, my family, several of the single teammates, and even the Beaulieus joined Alex, Brendan, Nate, our respective twins and I for a lovely party. In the effort to simplify the gift giving process, we held a secret Santa this year because otherwise the shopping list would be crushing on even an NHL salary. The grandparents of all families of course took this as an opportunity to spoil their respective grandchildren rotten. Our twins ended up with new IPhones and IPads, we got them new laptops, ice skates, hockey sticks and rollerblades. Marc and Connor gave Sasha and Brendan the toys they bought over the summer in Stratford as gifts. After dinner, they even got to show off the magic tricks from the same toy store. Sasha and Brendan were rather amused.

The transition from December to January found the Habs on the road. This would normally mean I’m at the Gallys’ watching their twins while Alex and Brendan are on the road. With the addition of Marc and Connor to my charges, we end up having a slumber party at Nate and I’s townhouse. Marc and Connor have almost turned into big brothers for Sasha and Brendan, which I was glad to see, and even nicer when our twins would share their rooms with the Gally twins.

The Habs had a New Year’s Eve game against the Red Wings, and even though I’m now a Canadian citizen and married to a Montreal Canadien, I still have trouble at times picking a side when these 2 teams play since I haven’t ever gotten rid of my Red Wings jerseys, even when Alex told me to burn my Fedorov one. I normally would have made this trip, but my new status as a citizen means I need to get a Canadian passport additionally Connor and Marc need new ones since the adoption has been made final. All those are in process, so we couldn’t travel with the team. Instead, the five of us held a hot chocolate watch party complete with chocolate chip cookies that I taught Marc how to make. I lit the fireplace for a little added warmth against a cold Montreal night, set out some sleeping bags on the living room floor from our camping gear, and passed out as the third period came to a close sealing a hard fought loss for the Habs.

School started back up in the middle of January for both twins, my classes had already been in session for a week by the time this happened. Since I couldn’t be home during the day to watch both twins that week, Nate volunteered to take a week of family leave from the team to watch the 4 kids.

It was back to the stress of ferrying kids to school, going to school, homework, attending games, and more homework, but by April I had a steady routine even though at times I was studying at Bell Centre while the kids watched the game. 

Marc and Connor acclimated to the routines of the house well, and I am glad that they prepared dinner most nights as I was dog tired at the end of the day. By the end of April my semester came to an end along with the regular season allowing me time to recharge my batteries during the day. I still had to see the kids to class every day, but it was a lot easier knowing that I didn’t have to spend all day in mine.

Connor and Marc’s birthday falls within 3 days of Brendan, Brendan, and Sasha’s birthday. The challenge was the playoff travel schedule. It was the tail end of round 1, but since the Habs swept the Bruins this year, there was a lengthy time off wait before round 2 hit which was going to be against the Capitals or the Hurricanes. It gives us time to celebrate as two families that had shared birthdays and we invited the entire team over for a BBQ with Marc serving as our chef. Since it was Brendan’s 30th birthday, we got Marc a sous chef taking the form of the famous Chuck Hughes. When he walked in the door, Marc screamed like a school girl with a crush and immediately put him to work. He grilled steaks, burgers, and brats to pure perfection and even made a huge batch of homemade potato chips with Chuck’s assistance to go with it all. I didn’t have the heart to have him make his own birthday cake, so I took on that challenge by making 5, one for each birthday boy.

The Habs end up making their way all the way to the Stanley Cup Finals against the Blackhawks again. It gave us all an opportunity to have Jonny and Patrick over for dinner one evening, because they couldn’t get enough of Marc’s cooking. Unlike the previous matchup, the Hawks took the cup that year and Uncle Jonny and Uncle Patrick as they are known to my twins announced their retirement and came out of the closet.

With Sasha and Brendan now age 4, they continue for one more year of preschool. Marc and Connor move one to Secondaire 3, and I move on to P2 the following year, but all that starts in September. Right now, all of us are looking to recharge our batteries, and the Gallys invited us to spend the entire summer with them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have no travel plans written in the timeline for Chapter 6 for anyone. Comment below with where you would like to see the 8 of us wind up.


	6. Pure Michigan

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Connor and Marc start dating, but don't read into their bf's names, they are kinda made up.

Not long after Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews announced their retirement, one of their own did too, Carey Price announced that he is retiring as a player to become the goaltending coach for the Habs. Since Price was the MVP in both of the Habs last cup wins it leaves a big hole in the Canadiens plans next year. Plans were already being made to retire #31 into the rafters of the Bell Centre next season. Since it will be weeks before the Habs announce a replacement for Price, the Gallys don’t let the news depress them for the summer.

Just prior to the end of the school year, Sasha comes home in tears and Brendan has a letter from the principal that summons Alex and Brendan to her office the following morning. As we are driving back to the townhouse from school I try to quiz Sasha for the reason for his sadness, “Some kid in our class told me I don’t have a real family since we don’t have a maman.” It’s insane that it’s the 2020s and half the families are missing at least one half the “family equation.” I recall that there is at least one other child of a gay couple in Sasha and Brendan’s class, so this kid should be used to it by now. Sasha continues, “So I told him that my two dads are the coolest people on the planet.” More whimpering continues, “So Brendan agreed with me then punched the kid square in the face. That got us called to the principal’s office and now we are in so much trouble.”

We get back to the Gallys and I drop their kids off at their house while our own twins are downstairs perfecting their already awesome physics skills on our pool table. I hand the letter over to Alex and he frowns greatly and looks at Brendan, “Why did you punch this kid?” It’s the first time in my five years here that I see Alex and Brendan actually get in a fight.

“He was making fun of our family papa. I don’t tolerate that level of disrespect of daddy and papa.”

“Where did you learn about the word disrespect Brendan?”

“Daddy mentioned it to me the last time I saw him fight Giroux.”

Alex shoots a glare at Brendan who is sporting his patented grin. Brendan makes eye contact with Alex and the smile fades. For the first time in the years I’ve been here, I actually feel the beginnings of couple’s turmoil. “Brendan,” Alex begins sounding disappointed, “did you teach our son that it’s okay to settle disagreements with fists?”

Brendan, who is known on the ice for being a pest and often ends up in fisticuffs with other players around the net when the whistle blows, looks back at his husband with puppy dog blue eyes, “No I didn’t tell him to fight, but I did tell him that people should respect each other, and if they don’t respect them you need to teach them that.”

“So young Brendan, did you think your fist would teach him to respect you?” Alex grumbles.

Young Brendan stares at papa with a similar puppy dog look. Alex’s heart melts just like it does for his husband, but he’s mad right now so there is significant ice in his veins that needs to melt first. “Well papa, I tried with my voice first, but he seemed to get worse, but when I punched him he shut up right then.”

Brendan tries to quell the argument with his husband, “Did you learn that by watching papa and daddy at work?”

“I noticed that you do it when people don’t like you at work, so I thought that might work here.”

Brendan looks at his namesake, “Did you also notice that the referees punish daddy when he does stuff like that?”

“Doesn’t seem to stop you from doing it again and again,” the young protégé replies.

Alex chimes in now as the conversation continues downhill, “Look Brendan, fighting is wrong and not the way to settle an argument, okay. We do have to punish you, so you will not be allowed to go to any games in September and October next season. This punishment is in addition to the one your school will impose on you too.” Brendan starts sobbing as Alex glares at him with a very stern look.

After the meeting with the principal the following morning both the kid that made fun of Sasha and young Brendan were made to write apology letters for the poor behavior in the incident. Brendan additionally was placed in detention for the remainder of the school year which amounted to a week. The principal mentioned that further violations may end up resulting in Brendan’s removal from the school.

Brendan admits that his time in detention was boring with a not very nice teacher. He says that he wants to avoid that experience again in the future and will tell his teacher if he can’t resolve a problem with another student. The school states that his punishment is satisfactorily met, and the school year ends without further incident. It turns out the kid that harassed Sasha was insecure about the fact that his dad is no longer with his mom and prompted the incident with Sasha. You just never know sometimes.

Marc and Connor are now almost joined at the hip with Brendan and Sasha. At the end of the school year, it was decided that we all needed to spend the summer together. Fresh with new Canadian passports for Marc, Connor, and I, we decide to spend the summer in a place that I spend many summers myself, the Straits of Mackinac. We rented a 4 bedroom cottage on Mackinaw Island for the summer, which I’m sure cost a pretty penny, but there are plenty of places to hike, rollerblade, bike, and visit. The kids’ bedroom has 4 decent sized bunkbeds. Sasha and Brendan elected to take the top bunks so their older and much larger “cousins” could take the lower and not bump their heads on the ceiling. The fourth bedroom was a guest room because my father promised that he would stop up as well as my niece.

This choice of venue was another sentimental moment that I share with everyone in the family one night over dinner.

_Every summer my grandparents would spend their entire summer here. It wasn’t in a nice cabin like this, but a travel trailer in a campground off US 23, if you were to look closely from here you could probably see the campground on the opposing shore._

_We would come up as a family as frequently as we could, at least once in May to see them using our travel trailer. I’ve been to the Soo locks so many times, I’ve lost track of all the ships I’ve seen raised and lowered in their chambers. My last trip here in Mackinaw was just passing through to get to another family event on a trip home from Montreal with my brother._

_Our most frequent stops here were both of the forts in the area, Mill Creek near the campground we stayed at, Cheboygan was the best re-supply spot from our campground and we spent a lot of time there. We also travelled to some of the UP’s falls and also frequented the Sault area. I never forgot many of these trips._

Marc and Connor are visibly proud to be part of my family’s tradition and ask when we plan on doing many of these things.

We all spent the remainder of June exploring the island we’ve made home for the summer. We rollerbladed every portion of it that was skatable, the lack of cars made this a lot easier since we only had to contend with bikes and horse carts. The kids all got new period military uniforms for their coming Halloween costumes, looking like 1800s British redcoats.

We spent July 1-4 in the Sault area just as Nate and I did 2 years ago. We called Uncle Jonny and Uncle Patrick out to join us for the joint patriotic celebration. Fireworks on the St. Mary’s River for July 1st and 4th, during this time we stayed at one of the many hotels in the area. Our twins, Nate and I shared an adjoining room so we could have a little privacy and still keep an ear on things. Uncle Pat and Uncle Jonny were across the hall, and Alex, Brendan, Sasha and Brendan shared a double room next door to Jonny and Pat.

That evening we went to the waterfront for the first night of fireworks. They were every bit as spectacular this year as they were in year’s past. This year was absolutely fantastic as a freighter passed by us, and “O Canada” is playing loudly off its deck during the grand finale.

The following day, we headed out to take one of the boat tours that are offered on the canal and have lunch on the boat. Pat and Jonny are visibly having a good time as Connor and Marc show their excitement of learning new things about their new environment. We ended the day at Nate’s new favorite restaurant, the Antlers where we get them once again to do the bells and whistles for Alex, Brendan, Sasha, Brendan, Pat, and Jonny. We convince Connor and Marc to eat bison burgers, Nate and I absolutely love them. They are a little more game like than beef, but lower in fat and the twins find them absolutely delicious, Brendan and Alex each had a large plate of bison poutine which they admit was a first for them, Sasha and Brendan had regular hamburgers, and Jonny and Pat had bison steaks for dinner. Marc told the owner that he was interested in becoming a chef when we ordered our food and got sent down to the kitchen to watch the chef make it for us. I had encouraged all the NHL players in our group to wear their jerseys for dinner which they did, the owner took a large picture for the wall and had it sent off to be printed during dinner at the drugstore downtown. As we were getting ready to leave, the 5 players all signed the photo to be hung in the restaurant for years to come.

We head back to the hotel with Jonny and I serving as designated drivers. Connor and Marc told us that we had to find bison when we got home so Marc could learn cook it ourselves, and he wouldn’t ever shut up about the experience of going down to the kitchens.

In fact, Marc didn’t shut up about his experience at the Antlers until we stopped for lunch at the Tahquamenon Falls (and if you can spell that you are definitely an honorary Michigander), and went to the microbrewery on the state park grounds. We had another awesome lunch of the UP’s finest foods, and I got the twins to try a pasty. When the pocket pie of meat, carrots, and potatoes arrives with a steaming soup cup of gravy, the twins look at me like I’ve lost my mind.

“It’s delicious I promise, think of it as Alex’s pelmeni in a pie crust. Spill on the gravy, and enjoy!” The twins relax, Alex and Brendan ordered the same meal as the twins already digging in. Brendan took off too hot of a bite and is blowing out steam like crazy as his tongue burns. He takes a big swig off a beer and visibly relaxes.

We hike around the falls trails for hours enjoying the scenery and watching the falls. The couples are all holding hands during the experience, especially since there is little hope of being recognized amongst the state park crowd. Nate and the twins tell me that we have to come camping here next summer. I gladly agreed with them and mentioned if we came here I’d have to invite my dad, and and their aunts and uncles too since we all grew up to love a tour of the UP.

We all head back to the soo and had dinner at one of the diner style restaurants downtown then walk along the river to stake out a spot for watching the second night of fireworks. After hearing the “Star Spangled Banner” plated over the PA system in the Locks Park, the fireworks show starts off. During the grand finale, the mixed pair couples of Nate and I, and Pat and Jonny kiss. Pat is from New York and Jonny from Manitoba, Nate is from Ontario, and I’m from Michigan even though last December I became a Canadian at last on Nate’s 30th birthday. Alex being from Wisconsin and Brendan from Edmonton and Vancouver rounded out the mixed couple crowd. The three couples share more in common than we care to admit.

We all wake the following morning and drive across to the Ontario side of the Soo to repeat the train ride that Nate and I took 2 years ago. Nate, Connor, Sasha, and little Brendan look practically glued to the windows of the train. Their excitement gives the 6 adults on the trip a little time to enjoy each other’s company. Jonny and Patrick announced to us that they are becoming sports announcers for SportsNet in the coming season covering the Winnipeg Jets as play-by-play announcers, so there is a chance that we’ll see them around Montreal again soon. Alex and Brendan announce that the Habs just signed Jared Coreau from the Detroit Red Wings during free agency to replace Carey Price who will be coaching him this year. I had just been informed that my internship was with a clinical pharmacist in a hospital at Royal Victoria Hospital, they were thrilled for me as I have only one semester of this internship, especially since my hours are still when the kids are in school. 

The train arrives in the canyon park that shares its name. We pick up our boxed lunches from the train staff, and head off to eat lunch quickly in the park prior to a lengthy hike in the canyon. We take the train back and eat and early dinner this evening as we all prepare to separate for the rest of the summer. Nate, our twins and I had planned on separating off to join Patrick and Jonny in Manitoba, taking the long way to get there through the Upper Peninsula, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. Alex, Brendan, and their twins are headed off to grandma and grandpa Gallagher’s for the remaining month and change of their summer vacation.

Just before leaving Duluth, Nate gets an unexpected phone call and based on the side of the conversation I can hear, Nate sounds rather excited. “It’s SportsNet, they want me to be the between the glass broadcaster for the Habs, and have offered me a 10 year contract worth $4 million a year.” It is a very attractive offer since Nate has been the victim of many trade rumors recently and this would keep us in Montreal for a long time to come. Our twins already have their roots set in Montreal, and removing them from the Gally twins would be detrimental to all of us.

After much discussion over the coming few days, Nate contacts Marc Bergevin and announces that he’s retiring from playing to pursue other opportunities. Bergevin sounded disappointed over the phone, but I assured him that he’s not taking me away from the Gallys or the team, and that I still plan on working for the team as soon as I am done with school. Bergevin relaxes and Nate promises to keep in touch since he will now be a member of the media covering the Habs.

We call Brendan and Alex to give them the news of Nate’s job offer, and they sounded surprised and reserved, but glad that Nate and I will remain in Montreal for the near future. I’m just hoping that having Nate being part of the press doesn’t strain the relationship with the Gallys as they might be worried what Nate would say on air about them. Brendan hints that he might retire in a couple of years to focus on being a father since Alex will have a few more years of playing time and I will begin my employment with the Canadiens.

We get to the cabin in Manitoba just behind Jonny and Pat. The twins prepare dinner that evening as we hosted our friends on the back deck. We tell them of the job offer, and they admit that they might have floated Nate’s name to the powers that be at SportsNet. Nate looks at them shocked, but not surprised as they had the intelligence there might be a trade in the works for him that would have taken him from the twins and I most of the year.

After dinner we all join Jonny and Pat on their boat for an evening cruise around the lake. The beauty of Canada’s wilderness never ceases to amaze me whether we are in the mountains, at home, or even out in Manitoba. As we cruise around the lake it gave the two couples a quick makeout moment as the twins were distracted by the beauty of the scenery along the lakeshore. After we got back to shore and the twins tied up the boat, we had a nightcap at Pat and Jonny’s place before walking back to our own cottage for a long overdue night. The quiet of the country is in stark contrast of the bustling noise of downtown Montreal. I curl up against Nate’s chest and fall asleep to the beating of his heart.

The twins wake us up the next morning to stuffed omelets, hash browns, sausage gravy, and biscuits. I brew a pot of coffee for Nate, Marc, and I. Connor has yet to acquire a taste for the preferred caffeine boost of the rest of the family. Marc still requires the flavor boost of milk and sugar, for Nate and I just plain old coffee does the trick.

Since the twins have managed to dirty every pan we keep in the cottage, Nate and I are left to clean them up while Connor and Nate head out to the lake to fish for a while catching a couple that eventually became lunch along with some steamed broccoli. Since the twins were out all morning, it gave Nate and I some very prime couple time in the bedroom after cleaning up the kitchen for half an hour.

The moments while fleeting are hotter than ever. The breaths in the neck are hot, wet, and every kiss there sends a message to my brain to moan incessantly. We weren’t sure how long the twins were going to stay outside, so every session is usually done in under 15 minutes followed by a joint shower and more intimacy. Nate is always seeing if he can get me hard a second time after fucking him, occasionally my cock complies under the warmth of the water and his ever masterful hands, the same ones that make him such a great hockey player.

After lunch, we headed out to the newly installed hockey rink Nate added over the spring for some 3-3 with Pat and Jonny joining us. It was Jonny, Nate, and I against Pat, Marc, and Connor. Just to mess with Pat we would frequently flip languages to French until we realized that the twins were translating our team’s secrets to Pat. Those traitors! I have gotten a little more skilled in my hockey with Nate’s excellent coaching, and after 3 seemingly short hours of hockey Jonny, Nate, and I beat our opponents 25-20. We sent the losing team to the kitchen to make dinner while the three of us headed out to the deck with a drink in our hands, when Jonny admits that Patrick is useless in the kitchen. “Marc will whip him into shape,” I reply and Jonny leans back in his chair smiling.

 

An hour after we sent the threesome into the kitchen, on the table arrives a feast of smoked bison sausages and roasted potatoes. Patrick appears to still have all his extremities and the house does not appear to have burnt to the ground. Marc admits that Patrick was on dessert duty with Marc teaching him how to make shortbread by hand, which meant that Patrick served as the human equivalent of my stand mixer, also serving as a food processor for strawberries. As for the stand mixer, that was Connor’s new friend as he whipped cream to top the shortbread and strawberries. Even Jonny was pleasantly surprised even though he ate only strawberries and cream. That gluten free thing doesn’t look like any fun!

To work off an excellent meal, Nate insisted that we take a family walk down the road for a couple of miles to work off the richness of the meal we just enjoyed. It gave all of us time to have a little levity before we head back to Montreal for the stress of back to school and the beginning of hockey season. We get back to the cottage just in time to watch the sunset with our friends. The twins announced that they were headed up to bed, we headed to the basement with Pat and Jonny for a couple of games of couples pool until they announced they were too tired to head back tonight and took up residence in the guest room for the night. After one last drink ourselves we headed up to bed and passed out not long after laying down.

My dad did manage to join us in Manitoba for a few days along with my youngest brother. They were on their annual motorcycle journey for the year and this time had plans to make it to Vancouver. Marc once again cooked an awesome dinner of steaks along with a salad and homemade French fries the night before they left on their travel west. We wished them safe travels the next morning, and gave them Alex’s and Brendan’s phone numbers to meet up with them in Vancouver. About 4 days later, my brother posted about meeting the Gally’s as family friends in Vancouver.

We make it back to Montreal in mid-August along with the Gallys for our annual pilgrimage downtown to shop for new school clothes and supplies. I had to even get new clothes too as this is the first school year where there are internship hours required in addition to my classroom time. I’ll start at Royal Victoria Hospital in a couple of weeks. Nate and the Gallys offered to join me on my first day, spending time with both sets of twins in the Children’s Hospital spreading a little Canadiens cheer.

We get to the hospital in the morning and we go our separate ways. I meet up with my preceptor, and begin my mandatory training along with an afternoon of therapy management rounds. Since most of my career will be spent as a clinician, this part of my training will be the most important to my future life with the Habs. We all meet back together for lunch as I vaguely describe my morning since I can’t go into details due to confidentiality laws. This will be one of the last times I will see Nate wearing his jersey unless he chooses to do so in bed, which I wouldn’t object to.

A week after my internship starts, the flurry of school stress on both sets of twins sets in. To Brendan and Sasha’s delight, the kid that taunted them at the end of last year has moved with his family to a different city and no longer attends their school. Because of my internship, I cannot pick up Marc and Connor from school this year, so I meet them at home after picking up Sasha and Brendan from preschool. They are 14 now and have proven to Nate and I that they can be self-sufficient on days when Nate is on the road with the Gallys.

I watched Nate’s first broadcast with the Habs and since Brendan scored the first goal of the game, he was interviewed by Nate during the first intermission. The two kept the interview very professional, and you could never tell that outside this broadcast, they were best friends. He rides the high of a successful first broadcast when he gets back from the road trip.

The first home game of the season, and Sasha, Nate, Connor, and I are seated in the Bell Centre just behind the benches, I am seated right behind Nate’s position between the glass so I can see him hard at work, though he makes little glances back every once in a while. In the middle of the second period though, Brendan loses his helmet in a fight and hits the ice hard. For about a minute he isn’t moving and still wasn’t when I looked back before leaving the seating bowl. Alex and Nate are looking on in absolute horror, the four of us bolt from out seats to head downstairs to meet the med team since I’m essentially part of them.

The team doctor tells me that he needs my help and that I’m to start an IV while Brendan undergoes the concussion protocol. Not that it really needs to be done, its apparent that he was knocked out from where I was sitting. When he arrived in the room, he was confused and very dazed. Alex had come back during admission to check in on him. I updated him with what the doctor told me since all I had to do was keep his pain and vomiting under control until we were able to transfer him to Royal Victoria for the night for observation, since I’m an intern there I get to keep tabs on his treatment and keep Alex updated through the night as much as I can. For Alex and I, it was a very sleepless night.

Brendan was cleared to leave the hospital the next morning with nausea and pain pills, with instructions to keep hydrated and off the ice for 2 weeks. I stay with him as much as I can, often studying at their house. When the team leaves for a road trip two days after his concussion, I camp out with both sets of twins at the Gallys, sleeping on the floor of Alex and Brendan’s bedroom while Connor and Marc shared the guest room.

Less than a week after Brendan’s injury, Alex succumbs to his own this time pulling his groin muscles. I’m getting great lessons in managing pain from these two, which I feel like I’ll be doing a lot in the near future. I’ve already explained to Nate that any medical information he learns when hanging around Brendan, Alex and I are off limits on the air and he has to remain as vague as possible. He’s a professional and on the broadcast it’s apparent he’s honoring my request.

The Gallys convalesce with each other for a week before Brendan is cleared for practice again. Both rejoin the team another week later and life returns to normal. I’m really glad I don’t have to do this with Nate anymore. After the latest concussion and the forthcoming end to his contract, Brendan starts hinting that this may be his last season as a player to Marc Bergevin who begs him to reconsider, when he doesn’t, Bergevin offers to have the offensive coach mentor him into a moving toward a coaching role. The move is apparent because Brendan spends less time on-ice every game. The migraines are also becoming more and more frequent for him, he spends many game nights in the med room doped up on pain killers and hooked to an IV. It was a little disheartening to watch many nights.

The Habs are on the road for the Canadian Thanksgiving holiday, and hosting the Jets the day after the American Thanksgiving. So we celebrate that holiday in our house, with my family joining us along with the Gallys and their twins, and Patrick and Jonny joining us as well since they are in town to broadcast the game the following day. Marc with my assistance made almost the entire meal, and he’s becoming so good he often makes entire meals by himself, including breakfast the next day for our house guests.

The next day the Habs rock the Jets 8-1. Alex, Brendan, and their team looked like they were dancing circles on the ice around a tired Winnipeg team that has been on the road for over a week.

By Christmas, romance has arrived for one of the two twins when he announces to us that he has a boyfriend. It’s one of the hockey players on their secondary school team and his name is Dylan. Sasha and Brendan end up spending one game night in December at Grandma Galchenyuk’s house because they had bad manners at the dinner table the night before, so I took the opportunity to meet Dylan by offering one of the extra tickets to Connor’s guest. Dylan not only loves how close to the ice he is with our seats, but I shock him further when we go down to meet up with Nate, Alex, and Brendan. Dylan is exhibiting the same shock as Connor did when he met us for the first time in the adoption process. I almost wanted to reach out and pick up Dylan’s jaw. I officially invite Dylan to Alex’s Christmas Eve party if he is available to come.

By the end of January a second hockey player on the same team falls for Marc. A delightful young man by the name of Brandon joins us for a game at Bell Centre. Since both boys have been dating over a month, I get the equipment guys to make me a pair of Nate’s jersey to give to the Dylan and Brendan. Alex arranges to have our little cheering section extended by two seats for the remainder of the year, he was practically begging for the tickets until he told Bergevin who they were really for.

My second semester internship was actually at Bell Centre working under the team’s doctor and another licensed pharmacist that was borrowed from the doctor’s regular practice who performed medication therapy management for his patients. This gave me the opportunity to start my practice with the team’s front office. In my previous pharmacy practice as a technician, I learned everything is about the patient’s care. In the process of doing MTM, we started the process of setting up an employee and player pharmacy in the bowels of Bell Centre. It is the only one of its type in the entire NHL. The team ends up saving thousands of dollars a month by being able to buy medications at wholesale prices. The pharmacist from the team doctor’s practice will manage the pharmacy in my stead until I’m done with school next year, but I get to pick out all the stuff I want from the dispensing system, and equipment including my personal favorite piece of equipment, my very own (well team owned) EyeCon® automatic pill counter.

I spend the better part of the next month of my internship working with the medical team when they are at home and with the front office and team’s dependents the remainder of the time. It’s educational and the front office staff is already more compliant with their therapy leading to better treatment outcomes.

As winter gives up its last freezing gasps on Montreal, Brendan announces to the media that he is retiring as a player at the end of the season and will be the offensive coach in Laval next season. Marc arranges to have number 11 retired sometime next Christmas.

The Habs were ousted in the first round of the playoffs, this year at the hands of Detroit. I’m not so sure why I was both elated and depressed at the same time. The Gallys spending the remaining part of the school year resting up at home and spending time with their children, teaching them to now inline skate along the canal often times with their twin best friends and their boyfriends joining them after homework time ends.

Before the school year ends for our twins, Nate and I sit down and have the sex talk with the twins. Having both been teenagers once ourselves, we know those hormones are now kicking in, and being boys we know what is inevitable. We let them know, that whatever they do until they are married is safe and consented between them and their partners. We also make it clear again, that they keep their hands off each other, which causes them to wince in disgust at the thought. The reaction relaxes me a little.

Brendan turns 31, the Gally twins turn 5, and our twins turn 15. I keep feeling older by the day when events like this roll around. Alex holds the end of the season/birthday BBQ catered by Marc’s favorite star chef Chuck Hughes.

The summer approaches and I have a plan for an educational and fun vacation in Europe planned for us and the twins. I don’t get the entire summer off from being the Habs’ pharmacist intern. I have one last 3 month fill of medication to coordinate before Bell Centre goes into summer mode. Next school year is my final year of pharmacy school and the second to last year of school for Marc and Connor and time for Sasha and Brendan to begin kindergarten (well the Quebec version of it).


	7. People are still good at heart

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nate and I take the twins on a WWII tour of Europe and teach them an important lesson. I get my dream job and Alex leads the team alone into the playoffs.

Now that the school year has ended, the twins find they have little studying to do. Well little to do except entertain their boyfriends in our basement game room, which thanks to EBay now sports a vintage Pac-Man game from the 1980s. Nate looks at me confused when it arrived since most of these no longer have existed in the world. The twins and their boyfriends between family skates occupy their time having Pac-Man tournaments.

I take my couple weeks off from internship to drag Nate, the twins, and their boyfriends off to Europe while Brendan, Alex, Sasha, and Brendan wander back to Vancouver so Ian and Della Gallagher can spoil their grandchildren absolutely rotten. I want this to be a rather educational vacation, and many of the places we visit are places I have been before when I took high school trips here back in the 90s. Having to shuffle Connor, Marc, Dylan, and Brandon around Europe gave me a new appreciation for what my French teacher went through many years ago.

We headed to many of the popular cities London, Paris, Rome, Geneva, Berlin, Amsterdam, and they were still postcard perfect as they used to be. My true goal was to go to places of historical significance.

Our first historical stop was Almont Castle in Northumberland. Most people have never heard of this place unless they are Harry Potter fans, but to my family it’s the link to royalty that most people think of when they hear my last name. It’s a stunning example of Renaissance architecture. Built by the Percy family back in the 1400s, it became the inspiration for the Hogwarts castle that JK Rowling envisioned in the book series that I read multiple times. Even Connor and Marc have read the books a half dozen times themselves. Nate just picked up the series, reading them when he flies around the NHL for SportsNet. Dylan and Brandon started chirping that they hope Marc and Connor can claim this as their family estate. I’m sure it’s a little drafty there, but I wouldn’t mind owning it myself, but I’m related to one of the daughters in the Percy family and ineligible to own the estate. Visibly deflated that their dream home is not in the cards, we leave Almont to head back to Alnmouth train station for the trip back.

We take a train back to London to pick up the Eurostar to France. Our second historical stop ends up being the Beaches of Normandy. This is easily the most solemn place I’ve ever visited when I last came here in 1992, the silence is the most unsettling aspect of the cemeteries there. It was on these beaches that one of my great uncles lost his life. Unlike the rows of crosses seen here, he was one of the lucky bodies to make it back to the US and he is buried near Jackson like the rest of my maternal grandfather’s family.

Connor, Marc, Brandon, and Dylan look out at the environment they find themselves saddened at the sight. Connor wipes a tear that forms in the corner of his eye, trying boldly to remain stoic, his twin brother less able to do so, Marc buries his face in Brandon’s shoulder visibly distressed. Connor loses all will, and soon after Marc, buries his face in Dylan’s chest. All their boyfriends can do is comfort Marc and Connor.

I walk over to where our twins have buried faces with Nate. Nate joins the embrace with Marc and Brandon while I do the same with Connor and Dylan. “Connor, it’s important to remember how destructive men can be when they fight with each other. This won’t be the first scene this trip you will see that is the powerful emotionally, but I want you to learn about this in person since it can’t be experienced in a history textbook.” 

“Dad, why do people feel they have to do this to each other, it seems senseless.” Connor spills out between the shakes of his sobs. Dylan is still doing his best to comfort Connor as he cuddle marches him back to the van we rented out.

When we get back to the car, I hand them all a copy of the diary of Anne Frank, which they have to read as we make our way to Amsterdam. After a visit to Mont St. Michel, and a couple of nights in the Loire Valley visiting some beautiful chateaux as some levity from the Normandy coast line’s most eerie stop. The boys are all performing their reading homework every moment in the car we have. I can tell when they get to the more poignant portions of the book because even the hockey players are visibly disturbed.

By the time we arrive in Amsterdam, there is only time for dinner the night of our arrival. We ate in the hotel restaurant when Connor finally figures out why we came here. “We are going to where she lived aren’t we?”

“Yes Connor that is why we are here. She was your age when her diary ends in 1944. She died months later in a concentration camp at the hands of the Nazis. The same people that killed my great uncle on the beach we just visited. When I said that wasn’t the last emotional stop, it won’t be. After this stop we are heading to where she is believed to have died.”

“Dad,” Connor croaks, “I don’t know how much of this type of vacation I can take. It feels too real.”

Nate looks at his adopted son, “Connor, we will add some light hearted historical stops between here and there. The whole trip will not be this sad.”

We arrive at the Anne Frank House the next morning after breakfast. We get to the re-created moveable bookcase and I opened the book the twins had been reading and began doing the same out loud to the teenagers in our care for the trip. “It's really a wonder that I haven't dropped all my ideals, because they seem so absurd and impossible to carry out. Yet I keep them, because in spite of everything, I still believe that people are really good at heart.” I break up a little when I read the last part, because hey it always gets to me, and Nate puts an arm around me in comfort. Connor starts weeping a little again, Dylan on one side and Marc on the other put an arm around Connor to comfort him. It didn’t take long before the 4 teenagers are in a joint embrace and Connor relaxes.

We add the promised levity by taking a canal cruise after the museum visit. The twins take in the beauty of the historic canal homes. I can tell that their Facebook accounts are getting a little exercise at the number of pictures being taken from the boat. We eat lunch there before heading off to some shops for souvenir shopping and eat dinner. 

Dinner was Nate’s idea and we eat it at a place called Restaurant Adam… thanks Nate. After 10 minutes of chirping about where we were eating, we finally get a table. We allow the twins their first tastes of wine for which they wince at its bitterness so they aren’t fans of red wine yet, clearly they are white wine type of guys. So we get them some pinot instead and they are a little more agreeable to the sweeter notes.

“Umm… what is steak tartare?” Dylan questions.

Marc replies, “You know meatloaf right?”

Dylan looks at him, “Yeah of course, my mom ruins it oh so well, you cook it nicely is that really what it is?”

“Kinda, it’s the raw version of meatloaf” Marc smiles.

“Gross, you gotta cook that shit!” Dylan’s a hockey player and I’m not gonna fault him for swearing; besides he’s not my kid and I’m married to a hockey player that can swear like a sailor when the situation presents.

Marc and I laugh loudly at Dylan since we are the more refined of the bunch, the rest of the group wishes we found a burger joint somewhere in Europe. We share a plate of steak tartare to the dismay of the rest of the table.

We get done with dinner and find a place to get some ice cream vowing the next day to find a place to rollerblade.

We do find one of those places the next day online. Oddly, it’s a block away from where we ate dinner the night before, Vondelpark. It’s only a 4km skate so we do 3 laps of it to work up an appetite for lunch. Marc and I joke that we could stop for another plate of steak tartare, everyone else grimaces. We chose instead to hit up a sidewalk café instead before heading off to turn in our rental car and then to the train station for our journey into Germany.

We let Dylan and Brandon call their parents using Nate’s phone from the train. They are clearly having a blast since we let the four of them room together and so far they have met curfew the whole trip (we wear them out pretty good), and I have yet to find Connor or Marc and related boyfriend waiting out the sock on the door. I do find that only two of the four beds ever seem to be slept in, so who knows. They won’t get this luxury in the next hotel since Nate and I booked a suite with 2 bedrooms, and there will be a thin wall between them and us. That also means that Nate and I will have to be quiet too. 

We get off the train in Berlin and start touring around the city. I’ve never been here before, but from the Bourne movies it looked rather nice. As European cities go, it’s a little more industrial that I’m used to, but German’s aren’t noted for liking architectural beauty. We did find a park to rollerblade around though and we needed it after a real rich lunch of German sausage and sauerkraut (which most of us ended up not eating), so Marc, Nate, and I ended up eating the majority of that.

This will the last bit of levity for a little while as our next leg is all about 2 concentration camps, we did visit the Brandenburg gate before leaving Berlin and even Nate was shocked to hear about the Berlin Wall. I keep forgetting that I’m the old man in the group, even Nate was born after the fall of communism. I remember the night the wall fell in Berlin in October of 1989 watching Tom Brokaw there at a loss to explain what was happening.

We left for Bergen-Belsen the next day by ICE train and get there in just a couple of hours. It’s another one of those eerie WWII sites that are left over from the Nazi reign. We will see the other tomorrow. Unlike our previous WWII sites this one doesn’t invoke the same emotional response from our twins until they find the site that marks the memorial for Anne Frank and her sister, where they knelt down and touched the marker out of respect. Dylan and I both took pictures of the sight. Marc and Connor took a moment of silence with their boyfriends before getting up visibly ready to leave. The experience left them shaking their heads at how people can do that to each other. If they think the Bergen-Belsen camp was bad, the atrocities committed at Auschwitz where we are headed were much worse.

We take the ICE back to Berlin for one more hotel night and leave for Auschwitz the next morning. Arriving there by train brings things home more since that is how many of the people who died here, came here. Granted our train accommodations were much nicer than theirs it still hits home as you can see where the switch off the main line was located. We visit the old camp first, have a brief lunch then visit the newer larger camp second. The second camp gets to Marc, Connor, Dylan, and Brandon as the four create a teenage huddle prior to walking in the main entrance to the camp. The area is silent and eerie mimicking the environment of the Normandy beaches.

We walk along the railroad line that brought people to their deaths and you can imagine the late night arrival, dogs barking to invoke fear, and Nazis shouting in German at you. It’s an image I only envisioned in textbooks and documentaries, it’s different when you are at the site. The fear is palpable in the air almost like the ghosts around you are telling you how to feel. I shiver in a chill that doesn’t exist.

The visit to Auschwitz ends the WWII portion of our vacation. We head out to the Alps, Alex and Brendan told us that we had to visit a place in mountains that had everything fun to do, they spent a portion of their honeymoon here. Sleds, miles of inline skating, a nice club to go dancing in, and a quaint little mountain hotel. We get there by overnight train, it was couchette style with 3 bunks on each side of the room. We each all take a bunk and settle in for the night. We arrive in Zurich the next morning to change trains to the Interlaken region. If you ever wanted to stereotype the entire country of Switzerland, it’s here. The grass is green and lush, and there are cows everywhere. It’s in stark contrast to the cities like Zurich and Geneva, although my favorite Swiss city by far is Luzerne. 

The four teenagers are visibly having fun with their new surroundings, frequently to be found racing on the toboggan run. We do take them all out skating frequently which wears them out even faster. It was nice to see everyone having a good time. I can see why Brendan and Alex told us to come here.

I also know the teachers in one of the schools there, and they offer the teens a chance to see what school is like in small town Switzerland, since classes are in a one-room schoolhaus. The classes are taught by a married couple and they teach kindergarten all the way up to high school. It works by having the older students teaching the younger kids. Connor and Dylan got to read a story in English while Marc and Brandon taught the younger kids how to make shortbread in the kitchen downstairs coming back dusted in flour. It was quite a cultural event for both sides, and the twins tell me that they’ll remember this experience for a long time to come. Marc was invited to come back anytime he wanted to teach the kids more cooking lessons.

We leave the next day for Luzerne, and I can’t resist taking the students to the Stadtkeller for dinner. Nate was even goosed by the bull that comes around after the Alpenhorn players are done. When it came time to test their musical talents, the four teenagers got up to try playing the wooden instruments themselves, with Connor being the only one to successfully get his Alpenhorn to even make noise. We stop at Bucherer the next day to get them all nice new Swiss watches and venture across the pedestrian street to get their fill of Swiss chocolate as well. All this was rollerbladed off after lunch strolling along the river in town.

The following morning we checked out of our hotel and stopped at the Kasselbruche to look at the bridge and its ornate roof depicting the history of the area before making our way to the transportation museum north of town. We then take a train out of the mountains to Geneva which is our final stop of this vacation, eating lunch on the train.

All of them love visiting the Olympic museum in town, especially the part that displays all the medals that were made for the games. I personally love cruising the old village and walking along the lake with Nate, especially the Jet D’Eau which sprays a tower of water well into the air and the floral clock. In Geneva, Connor and Marc made some friends while inline skating with their boyfriends one afternoon and got us all invited to have dinner with a Swiss family.

We find a place to buy a bottle of wine to bring with us and arrive at their newfound friend’s house. It seemed as if half the city was invited along, but there was plenty of food even with there being 5 teenagers in the room. Our hosts were gracious to have us in their home. It’s not often they get to meet Canadians, especially the hockey player variety. Nate launches into his NHL stories, and I get asked how we met, and how we came to adopt teenagers, etc. Connor, Marc, Brandon, and Dylan are talking to their new friend trading high school experiences. We stayed at the dinner party until well past tired for me, but it was a good night.

We let the teenagers meet up with their friend one more time before we leave Geneva and they all trade contact information before leaving. Our flight was well after lunch a direct flight from Geneva to Montreal and just before dinner time we make our way back to our townhouse. We gave the twins a night off of dinner duty by heading out eat taking their boyfriends with us. If we aren’t careful soon, we might have to adopt Brandon and Dylan too, stopping short of that experience they are our rental kids since we can still send them home to their parents.

Over the summer, Connor is offered the opportunity to be the equipment manager for the high school hockey team. It’s a position he gladly accepts since it will allow him to spend yet more time with Dylan. He volunteers Sasha to be his honorary assistant making it Sasha’s job to keep the water bottles full. Meanwhile, Marc and little Brendan have been tasked with providing the team with pre-game meals. As for Nate and I, we agreed to donate all the food that kept the hockey team fed.

After our vacation ended, my summer internship continued working alongside the pharmacist for the team’s doctor doing medication therapy management sessions in the main doctor’s office for the summer. I’m quickly regaining the skills I gained when I was a technician back in Michigan. I was also offered a chance to teach part of the technician program at McGill as a night class this coming fall. It will be nice to get back behind a professor’s podium again. The opportunity is only available because our twins will be keeping the Gally twins busy helping with their hockey team duties.

Since I’m busy with my required internship hours, I send Nate and our twins out to Manitoba to the cabin for the remainder of the summer. I fly out on the weekends to spend a little time with them making sure to send the kids to Pat and Jonny’s during the day so Nate and I can catch up on marital time.

During the week, I keep Nate entertained with a night Skype session. It isn’t the same as having him next to me in bed, but with each other passing dirty talk across the airwaves we both get what we need.

Late August arrives with new prospects for both families. Brendan is now coaching with the Laval Rockets and has been undergoing therapy to control the severity of his migraines, the result of a few concussions during his playing days. Alex is contemplating his own future as well, though being almost 2 years younger than Brendan, he’s certain that he has a few more years of play left in him.

With hockey operations starting up prior to rookie camp, I again take up my internship with the Habs. This is my last year of official pharmacy school prior to taking my exams to enter the Quebec College of Pharmacists and practice on my own. So far my clinical expertise has been rated as high, and Marc Bergevin himself has been impressed with my ability to keep the team healthy and in fighting form.

This fall proves to become a challenging one as Connor, Dylan, Marc, and Brandon are all in driver’s education one afternoon a week. They also have their hockey team related work and homework. They seem to have acquired my work ethic because they rose to the challenge beautifully. Even with everything extra that has been thrown at them this year, their grades never faltered.  
By the time Christmas comes in our house, the twins are now on learner’s permits and capable of driving with one of us in the vehicle. Whatever number of brown hairs I had left was quickly disappearing by the time I rode with Marc the first time, especially in that one brief moment that I thought we’d take flight over Dorion when I had him drive my Jeep out to pick up Sasha and Brendan from school one afternoon before break started.

On my birthday the Habs once again hold an “Adoption Night” and it’s almost the second anniversary of the night Nate and I stood here with Connor and Marc receiving the final adoption order that made us a family.

Instead of the PA announcer introducing the ceremony that happened before the game, Nate and I handled the MC honors, “Ladies and Gentlemen, please welcome to the ice Canadiens’ broadcaster and former defenseman Nathan Beaulieu and joining him tonight is our team pharmacist-in-training and Nate’s husband Adam. Before we begin though please wish Adam a happy 45th birthday!” The crowd follows the PA announcers lead then settles in for Nate’s address. Nate began, “Two years ago on a night very much like this, Adam and I stood here with our adopted twins Marc and Connor and received the order that made us officially a family. It has been a crazy two years and we couldn’t be more proud of our sons.”

Connor continued, “We waited 3 years to be adopted, our parents were incapacitated in a car crash. With no family that could take us, we bounced from foster home to foster home. At the beginning of the 3rd year we felt as though no one wanted to adopt us. Halfway through that time Nate and Adam came into our lives. They took a visible interest in our wellbeing and wanted us to be happy. When they told us that they wanted to make it official, Marc and I were elated. Our case worker toiled immensely to make sure everything happened quickly and efficiently.”

Connor handed me the microphone, “Adoption services find permanent homes for more than 100 Montreal kids every year, but there are several more that need permanent homes. Most of those kids are teenagers like Connor and Marc, all they seek is a home they can call their own. If you have the heart and the space, I encourage you to consider making one of them your own. Tonight we are joined by 5 Montreal families that have opened their home to some of those teenagers at least 6 months ago, and they are here tonight to receive the final adoption order to legally cement their families. Please welcome Justice LaCroix from the Montreal Family Court who will grant these families their Christmas wish.”

“Thank you Adam and Nate, and I must say Connor and Marc have turned in to wonderful gentlemen. The lunch buffet Marc made for the Habs game day meeting earlier today was fantastic. Tonight we honor families who made the selfless promise at least 6 months ago to bring a new family member into their home. Blood and genetics may make people parents at the time a child is born, but being a parent to a teenager when they need a home exemplifies the heart it takes to be a parent. It is time now that we get to confirm your status as a family. The motions for an Order of Final Adoption by the five families present are hereby granted with the consent of the Crown. May you all have many happy years and memories to come. Good luck to you all!”

Thunderous applause ensue, and apparently one of the teens that was just adopted has a talent to sing as she was announced as the singer of the national anthems that evening. She was absolutely amazing for only being 12. The crowd is now so loud I can’t hear the ice crew member standing 2 inches off my left ear. Alex and the rest of the Habs rewarded her performance with a 10-1 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets.

After the game ended, Alex arranged to get all of us ice time. Sasha and little Brendan are skating really well now even though they still have Connor and Marc hold their hands. Brendan arrived to join us a few minutes after the end of the game. He announces that on the 5th, he will be back in Bell Centre to have his number retired. We all skated for an hour after the game, our twins were holding hands with their boyfriends along with the Gally twins the whole time, it looked like a fence going down the ice. Our two families have never looked happier.

The next game comes and SportsNet gave Nate the night off to join us as honored guests of the Canadiens. This is the ceremony where Brendan’s night will be retired. Marc Bergevin gets up on the podium, “The decision to retire a player’s number is only bestowed upon those players who have brought more to their sport than they took away. Brendan Gallagher exemplifies one of those players. Prior to his engagement and subsequent marriage to his fellow Hab Alex Galchenyuk, no player in the National Hockey League has ever come out of the closet. The year that happened probably almost gave then head coach Michel Therrien a heart attack. It was that point in Canadiens history that proved that Montreal is the most accepting city in the world and that hockey is a sport that has a home for LGBT players. In the years that followed, the team made Alex and Brendan co-captains after the retirement of Max Pacioretty. The team changed their nickname from the Gallys to the Dads, which they had become off the ice the year prior. Alex and Brendan have raised twin sons Sasha and Brendan Jr. now almost 6 years old. Tonight we honor you Brendan.”

Brendan gets to the microphone, “In 2013, you all welcomed me and my now husband Alex to Montreal in grand fashion. The team honored me a couple of years later by making me an assistant captain. Romance was in the air three years later when you all welcomed Alex and I as an engaged couple during the 3rd period of a game on Alex’s birthday. I have a wonderful husband and two wonderful sons and I couldn’t have asked more from Montreal. Allez Montreal!” The crowd erupts.

Alex comes out of the Zamboni tunnel with the golden torch currently lit in his hand. As he skates out and hands the torch to Brendan, they unveil Brendan’s banner. Brendan takes the torch from his husband giving him a peck on the lips and holds the lit torch high. As the banner starts its ascent into the rafters, Brendan reaches up and extinguishes the torch with tears visible in the corners of his eyes. The Habs win again at home 3-1 against the Leafs.

Alex’s Christmas Eve invitee list swells this year with not only our families, but Dylan and Brandon accompanied our twins this year along with all the single players which is a high number this year owing to 5 rookies that joined the team. The Finnish rookie Jaakko this year decided to make this the time to come out to most of the team by bringing his boyfriend Jesse to the party as well, knowing that he’d be in a safe place and well accepted. It was cute and adorable to see the young love, we worked hard to get the young couple smashed then walking them back to our house to sleep it off in our guest room.

Christmas Day comes around, and Marc is down in the kitchen making waffles and sausages with Brandon for the 8 individuals that have invaded our house. Nate and I ventured down next after them and made a pot of coffee to make us all more human. As the morning progresses, Jaakko and Jesse make it down next and I pass them all the essentials for their hangovers, orange juice, ibuprofen, vitamin B, and a cup of coffee each. Connor and Dylan venture down last looking bleary eyed and trying to rub off the sleep in their eyes. Dylan gladly accepts his coffee and Connor grabs a jug of Frapuccino from the refrigerator. We all ate our waffles, leaving to shower and dress for company to join us in a couple of hours.

After showering, Marc and I start making dinner by throwing a ham roast in the oven along with 3 loaves of soda bread. Dylan and Brandon’s families both arrive at about the same time followed almost immediately by the Gally clan and my family. Feeling human again, Jaakko and Jesse take their leave to head to Jesse’s family in Cornwall, and then my family joins us at our townhouse. I cannot recall a time when I’ve had more people in our house it was the best time I can recall ever having.

We repeated the experience a week later on New Year’s Eve, adding the Galchenyks, Beaulieus, and Ian and Della as well. If our family gets any larger, I’m going to need to buy the townhouse next door for extra space. We celebrate a New Year and come April, I graduate from pharmacy school at last.

Just when I felt everything was settling back down my youngest brother calls me, “You need to come quickly Adam, it’s dad and it’s not good!” His voice is trembling in a way I haven’t heard since my mother’s funeral. I immediately call Nate who is out west covering the Habs. He tells me to get back to Michigan fast and he’ll meet me when I get there. I’m to go get the kids from school then fly out.

I get to Marc and Connor’s school and they refuse to leave without Dylan and Brandon. They need their new rocks. I call Dylan and Brandon’s families to get them out of school and get letters authorizing us to take them out of the country again. This is quickly becoming a logistical nightmare.

I finally get all the arrangements made and ended up having to charter a flight out of Montreal to get back to Grand Rapids because of cost and time, but our little jet gets us directly to Grand Rapids in 3 hours. We otherwise wouldn’t be able to leave until 2 days from now. After landing I call Nate and get voicemail, so I sent him an email that we landed and he replied that SportsNet got him a plane that will land in about 1 hour. I call my brother letting him know I’m here and that I’m waiting for Nate’s flight to arrive and that it will be about an hour before we can leave the airport. He tells me to go straight to the hospital as soon as we can.

Nate’s flight lands, we rented a car, texted my bother to let him know we were on our way, and head off to meet my brother. I get to the reception desk and ask where I can find my father. She directs me to his room and since I helped install equipment in this hospital, I find the room with little trouble. Connor and Marc look extremely worried as we ride the elevator up to the fourth floor. Both of my brothers and my niece were there to meet us at the elevator and walk us back.

We walk to a conference room where the doctors met with us. “Your father has had a massive heart attack. We have him in surgery now to take care of the blockage, but we won’t know more until we wake him up after surgery. He’s going to be weak at least for a couple of days.”

Since surgery was going to take another hour or two, Nate leaves to get a couple of hotel rooms at the hotel next to the hospital taking the twins and their boyfriends with them. Connor is crying into Dylan’s shoulder and Marc and Brandon are visibly praying. I take my brothers and niece down to the cafeteria while we waited for more news.

My father pulls through surgery and he wakes up later in the evening feeling very weak which we expected. The twins, their partners, and Nate comeback after settling into the hotel to visit with my dad, Marc and Connor look a little relieved to see that my dad is awake and alert. We sat around for a little while to help my dad stay comfortable, but as he quickly tired out and needed rest, Nate and I took our clan back to the hotel for the night. Just like when I take care of the Gallys, I didn’t sleep much that night.

We woke up in the morning and went down to have breakfast. Waiting for us in the lobby is the Gally clan. Nate had told Brendan what happened, Alex chartered a flight back to Grand Rapids while Brendan and their twins did the same thing from Montreal. Quite frankly, if anyone ever witnessed the bond our families share, the Gallys and our family look and act more like one great big family rather than two separate entities. 

Two days after my dad was admitted to the hospital, he was discharged with instructions to take it easy for a week, which he did and we stayed around so Connor and Marc could visit with their grandfather. Their school had sent the four teenagers all the work they were missing and were still studying nightly. To help them relax, we took them to an AHL game just before leaving. My hometown Griffins were taking on the Laval Rockets, Brendan was back behind the bench again and we had seats right behind him with all of us, Alex included, in our Habs jerseys. Alex kept kicking the board behind Brendan just to keep him freaking out, though Brendan with his usual cool as ice demeanor, just blew kisses back in Alex’s direction.

We all grab a charter flight back to Montreal the next day since it was more cost effective than buying half a plane worth of airline tickets. Our 3 hour flight passes quickly and we head off to the Canadiens game that was held that evening at Bell Centre with Alex joining us. After the game, we drop Dylan and Brandon off at their families’ houses, the twins almost not wanting to let go of their boyfriends. Seeing them in a crisis like this and the love that they share with their boyfriends, it’s apparent that these relationships will last a very long time.

April comes and both Montreal and Laval prepare for their respective playoffs. Everyone takes a couple of days though to celebrate my graduation from pharmacy school. I’m scheduled to take my College of Pharmacist exams in a week. Everyone came for my graduation, my family, Nate’s Family, the Gallys, the Galchenyuks, most of the Montreal Canadiens team, and even Marc Bergevin.

A week later, I take my exams for the Quebec College of Pharmacists, and am told that they think I passed. Our family with boyfriends included celebrated with the Gallys that night at Brendan’s favorite steakhouse.

My dad joins us in Montreal for Connor and Marc’s birthday. It’s amazing to think that they’ve been with us for 3 years now. Nate and I are actually celebrating the 5th year of our relationship. Since it is also Brendan and his twins’ birthdays as well, we have a grand celebration renting out the Brossard Centre for the day since neither of our houses has the capacity to hold all the people that came to the party. All 4 twins have their school friends and parents out for the party, the team all came along with Brendan’s entire team as well, Nate and Connor had their boyfriends and their families, the Beaulieus, the Galchenyuks, and the Gallaghers. Alex and Nate agreed to split the expenses for the party, but money isn’t really a problem.

My pharmacy license arrives in May. I’m now legally allowed to practice my craft on my own. I schedule a meeting with Marc Bergevin to give him the good news. “Adam, you have demonstrated great skill in school and with the team, we would officially like to welcome you aboard. Here is your contract, your salary will be a very generous $175,000 a year.” I sign on the line requesting my signature and head down to celebrate in my own pharmacy. After I have my little freakout time, Nate and I have a date night celebratory dinner since Sasha and Brendan were out skating with Marc and Connor and offered to have dinner with Alex and Brendan.

In the middle of May, the Laval Rockets were knocked out of the playoffs so Brendan’s off-season begins. It really was perfect timing as Alex, Nate, and now me have to travel with the team. It the conference finals against the Capitals, and thankfully this year they are without Ovi and Backstrom who both retired at the end of last season resulting in a dual retiring of 19 and 8 this season. Alex leads his team to a quick sweep of the Caps and head to the cup finals again this time against the Dallas Stars. After winning in overtime in Game 7, the cup is raised by Captain Alex Galchenyuk once again. The cup is passed around the team and I’m standing on the bench. After the coaching staff raises the cup it’s passed to the trainers, equipment managers, finally the team masseuse passes the cup off to me. It’s 35 pounds of silver I never expected to raise myself and I pull it up over my head and give it the same kiss everyone else did. After passing the cup back to Alex and joining the team at coach’s house for a team celebration, I wake up in my townhouse next to Nate with a searing headache. I don’t remember the party at all, but apparently Alex, Brendan, Nate, and I have a picture floating around the internet with us in a 4 way kiss.

I get to work the following Monday, and in my mailbox is a cheque for $100,000 with a note, “Stanley Cup Bonus” on it and an order form for a ring. Geoff Molson made the decision to allow the support staff Stanley Cup rings this year. I never imagined in my life getting one of my own. Another week later, I get a call from the NHL to schedule my day with the cup in Grand Rapids. It’s going to be a long summer.


	8. Leaving the Nest

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The time has come for our twins to fly the nest.

I was humming away in my happy pill room one afternoon in July listening to Loco Locass when Nate, Alex, and Brendan shocked me by standing in the doorway. I jumped needless to say as it is just usually me and my music to distract me from the monotony. I don’t have a tech to talk to and my only social interactions are my monthly clinical appointments and occasional meetings with the doctor to go over player treatment protocols.

“So how’s our favorite drug dealer today? We’re here to kidnap you for lunch, Geoff said you haven’t left here all morning.” Nate walks in and gives me a passionate kiss.

“I’m up for lunch!”

“Well Adam, before you two go, I have to give you this script, Sasha got into something this morning and has a rash all over his body.” It’s the usual steroid script that accompanies poison ivy, so I fill the steroid script and get a box of poison ivy wash out of my cupboard to hand to Alex. I’m done relatively quick since the Gally twins are generally healthy and there is little doubt the meds are going to work. I counsel Alex and Brendan to make sure he takes in the morning with food and chases it down with orange juice to avoid leaving a bad taste in Sasha’s mouth. I also go over the instructions for the wash so the rash goes away faster. They thank me for the advice and we head out to lunch.

We get to the restaurant when Nate tells the host that the reservation is under Bergevin. My curiosity is piqued to say the least. We are led to a table where Geoff and Marc are seated with a box sitting on the table.

Geoff clears his throat, “Adam your ministrations with the team have helped our organization become the healthiest in the NHL. The doctor’s even agree that your services are instrumental in ensuring that our players spend less time on IR and more time on the ice wowing our fans! It is with my greatest gratitude that I present your with your very own Stanley Cup ring. Wear it with pride!”

He hands over the box and it was heavier than I ever imagined. I open the box and finally have a ring that nearly matches Alex, Brendan, and Nate’s last ring. “It’s gorgeous, thank you for letting me have this!”

Marc looks back, “the pleasure is all ours, thank you for everything you do for the Canadiens. Which brings us to part 2 of our discussion, we want to do a health related promotion in October, what can we do that gets the fans involved in their own health?”

I have the instant reply, “We can have a vaccination night. Free flu shots for the first 5,000 fans or something like that. I can probably get Habs custom bandaids if we find the right sponsor. I’m going to need some of my buddies from McGill though to help me administer all those shots and we can get them for free!”

“Who would sponsor something like that?”

“I have a friend at Royal Victoria that works in the marketing department there, I’m sure I could get them to get us the vaccines for free in exchange for some advertising and we could get the bandages given to us by Johnson and Johnson in exchange for their name on the event or something like that.”

Marc smiles then looks at me, “That sounds like the business major I once was in college, such a well-rounded pharmacist you are. I like the idea, I’ll get PR on both those tasks if you have the name of your contact at Royal Victoria.”

Lunch was a hearty event, one that Bergevin tells me I have to take advantage of some ice time in Brossard to work off since Marc gives me the afternoon off to spend time at home. Nate and I leave for Brossard digging some pucks and sticks out of the equipment closet. It was fun to spend the afternoon playing hockey with my husband. Marc and Connor join us later in the afternoon for some 3 on 3 action and dinner in the sports bar afterward.

In July I get my day with the Stanley Cup. Our twins, Nate, and I take a pair of flights into Grand Rapids to meet up with my family. Everyone from my family and the Beaulieus are joining us as well. I remember the last time I had a day with the cup with the Gallys and Nate and the media circus that goes with it. Alex and Brendan made the trip down as well, so that people could get autographs with them. I get paraded all over Grand Rapids in my Habs jersey (even though I don’t play, I’m wearing Nate’s), the shopping mall, a couple of the local ice rinks and since I have famous people tagging along, it became the story of photo ops even if the reason the cup is here is not because of the Red Wings.

The night ends at VanAndel Arena for a massive cup party. The local Griffins players, a couple of Red Wings players, and the overwhelming majority of the Habs organization put on quite the show, giving praises about how well the local hometown boy takes care of the Canadiens. A few of the Red Wings have been my patients when they get injured in Bell Centre since I help out both teams with drugs when they are on my turf.

The entire time I’m on stage, Nate is sitting next to next to me with our twins on the other side. I’m looking off the stage where my siblings and Dad are between tears when the players honoring me get to emotional parts and laughing at my overall seriousness that earns many chirps from the team with Alex telling the audience that the Habs have the best drug dealer in Canada. I’m touched yet doubled over laughing.

We get back to Canada, and I have 3 weeks of vacation time that I was forced to take. Connor and Marc drag their boyfriends off to the lake cabin with us in Manitoba for 3 weeks of absolutely recharging respite. Patrick and Jonny joined us many evenings to get their fix of Marc’s cooking. Since the year coming up is Marc’s last in secondaire, we started looking at colleges that offer culinary arts programs. Marc admits to us that he won’t go anywhere Brandon isn’t, so it comes down to determining what interests both halves of the relationship.

After feeling like we’ve toured every university in the country. Marc and Brandon eventually applied to McGill, which I like since Marc will get a tuition discount. Marc will be focusing his studies on culinary arts and Brandon is seeking a degree in physical therapy. As for Connor and Dylan, they haven’t quite decided their next course of action but Connor thinks he will get a sports management degree and Dylan indicates a similar interest.

We get back to Montreal in mid-August and take the twins back to school shopping. Now that they have stopped growing we can start getting them fitted for things they will need after their time in secondaire is over. Connor has been promoted from equipment manager to assistant coach now that he is old enough to be on the payroll for the school and we celebrate with him by getting him his own game day suit.

At work, my first order of business was to organize a flu shot clinic for every single team member and all their dependents. Marc Bergevin made it mandatory for the entire team this year because he remembers all too well the year that Price spent the first two weeks of the regular season out of the lineup for the flu. By my math, I have to administer nearly 150 flu shots just for team, support staff, and dependents all together. The front office team added another 40 to my workload. I decided the best way to do this is to do support staff the day before camp starts, the team the first day of camp, dependents the second day of camp, and the front office on the third day. It will be a chaotic 4 days, so I start working on getting my prescription and clinical meeting workflow scheduled around those 4 days.

Two days before camp arrives, Alex arrives into the pharmacy. He tweaked a muscle at his personal trainers and was given a prescription for some muscle relaxants to take for the next couple of days. “I think this is the last season for me Adam, my body is trying to tell me something.”

“I can understand that Alex, make sure you have a plan though for after hockey.” I reply grimly knowing that most players don’t transition out well.

“I’ve already been in talks with the high school team at Connor and Marc’s high school and their head coach is thinking of stepping down to focus on his primary job more. I thought about taking up the coaching vacancy. It would allow me to spend more time with Sasha and Brendan especially during times when Brendan is on the road with Laval.”

“That would be awesome, you’ll be able to teach Connor everything you know. He’d be one of your assistants.”

“I’m glad we’ve had this talk because it’s going to happen quickly; I’m doubting that I will return for the season here.”

I’m a little saddened by the news that this is Alex’s last season and my pill room now feels like a lonelier place knowing that Alex won’t be peaking his head in everyone in a while to get me to smile or otherwise scare the crap out of me when I’m too focused on my clinical work. I also feel like I’m losing my lunch buddy too. Thankfully Alex had that part taken care of, he got Nakita and Jaakko to fill his vacancy. Since Brendan is also appearing at Bell Centre to discuss prospects from time to time, he also makes his way down to play pranks on me from time to time.

When the news of Alex’s retirement finally breaks, you could hear a collective silence in the locker room; their leader is leaving. The saddening news comes with some that makes me very happy, Brendan is rejoining the Habs as the offensive line coach. I still get to see at least one of my friends on a daily basis.

Once Brendan gets situated among the coaching staff, it becomes easier for us to eat lunch together. Nate and Alex often join us for these very informal lunches and also generally invite Jesse and Jaakko to join us as well. Jesse seems to be settling into his role as a HAB much better than I did. When Nate and I first started dating, I spent a lot of time looking over my shoulder for cameras until Nate came out publically in a TV interview.

Once the season starts I make an effort to sit on the team plane with the coaching staff. The new coaching staff that came on this year decides that having a better connection with the medical team will make communication about player injuries more consistent. The effect on the player’s is that they spend more time on ice than they do on IR. For the Canadiens, the average number of games missed due to injury is reduced by 1.5 games.

Other teams have begun taking notes about the importance of having a clinical pharmacist join their teams, and since that has become a module in our pharmacy school at McGill, I get to teach a course in sports management once a year. My students are now being actively recruited by various professional sports teams, and I’m spending more time showing off the Canadiens’ pharmacy program to other general managers including the return on investment for employing a pharmacist. The Habs for example save $2 for every $1 they pay me. Savings come from not having to call up minor league players, additional travel expense, additional player payroll, trimming overtime for the training staff, and reduced medical expenses for front office staff.

Marc and Connor spend a lot of time at the Gally household during the season since Nate and I travelling with the team, so Brendan and Alex gave Sasha and Brendan each their own rooms with bunk beds allowing Connor and Marc to be roommates with their favorite twins.

We continue the tradition of celebrating both Thanksgiving holidays in our household. The NHL regular season doesn’t start until after Canadian Thanksgiving this year so we hold our usual family gathering of the Gallys, Beaulieus, Dylan and Brandon’s families, and my dad this year. Marc is making a feast for the army that has descended upon our residence, co-opting the Gallys’ kitchen in the process running back and forth between the two houses as dinner cooks. After thoroughly wearing himself out after being on the run since 5am, he volunteers his brother and their boyfriends, barking orders in a way that would make Gordon Ramsay proud.

Dinner is a loud affair, my dad and Nate’s parents are swapping embarrassing stories of our childhood while Nate and I are doing the same thing with Dylan and Brandon’s parents often leaving our twins with their heads in their faces and Dylan and Brandon bright red from blushing. Our numbers have swelled so much that we had to convert our living room into a makeshift dining room to accommodate our numbers.

As October moves along, Nate, Brendan, and I attend as many high school hockey games as our schedule allows. Alex and Connor make an incredible coaching team and their chemistry is undeniable. The first game we witness, the team looks like it has gelled amazingly well and it is demonstrated on the ice by a 4-0 win with Dylan scoring the empty netter at the end of the game. We head out in a joint family dinner celebration at our favorite steakhouse after the game. The smiles don’t leave Connor and Dylan’s faces for the remainder of the evening.

When American Thanksgiving arrives the Habs are once again splitting away games between Detroit and Chicago with an off day for Thanksgiving in between them. Brendan and I split from the team after the game with Detroit to join our families with Dylan and Brandon in tow in Grand Rapids to celebrate Thanksgiving with my family. Marc ends up helping out my dad with dinner, cooking for nearly 30 people that have crashed the small country farmhouse. It is rather refreshing to see our numbers rising again for these gatherings after shrinking for many years after my mother passed away. After dinner, we offer the invitation to spend Christmas in Montreal for everyone offering travel assistance to anyone who needs it, and pass along the invitation to spend the Boxing Day game in the owner’s box at Bell Centre.

During the first home game of December, the Habs once again host the annual adoption night event that has become the most heartwarming event of the game calendar. Another 5 families receive their final adoption orders. I love when this game comes around because I’m reminded how lucky we were to have Connor and Marc in our lives.

The very next game rolls around and the Habs prepare to retire the number 27 in the same fashion that they retired Brendan’s number the night before. Since his number is being retired in honor of his contribution to LGBTQ equality in sports, the Habs hold an equality night in collaboration with the You Can Play foundation. The night raises almost a million dollars for You Can Play. The night ends with Alex agreeing to do a You Can Play video with his high school hockey team.

Christmas always seems to offer a surprise every year. This year, we had to ask the Habs for the Brossard facility for Alex’s Christmas Eve party as the number of people showing up for it now exceeds 200. The invite list ends up including most of the Habs, all of our respective families, Alex’s hockey team and their respective families. It was a fun affair, and we told everyone to get a $10 gift to add to the gift exchange.

Our second Christmas surprise comes to Nate and I after our morning gift exchange. Marc and Connor left to start Christmas dinner in the kitchen and Dylan and Brandon joined us in the basement game room for air hockey. “Nate/Adam, we have a question for you, how would you feel if we asked for your sons’ hands in marriage?” Dylan and Brandon ask jointly.

I look at them, “Are you sure you are ready for this?”

Dylan was ready for me responding almost immediately, “You know we are Adam, I think the time when your dad was sick cemented it for me. Connor and I are made for each other, and I want to be his partner in life forever.”

Nate smiles, “So I assume you two have a plan?”

Brandon now smiles with a devilish grin, “Yeah, Boxing Day in front of the whole family.”

Nate and I give our blessing in unison, “Good luck guys! You deserve them. Make us proud!”

Not long after that conversation, the twins come down to tell us that dinner is ready. I could tell by the look in Connor’s face that he knows something is going down. He gives out at ‘what?’ look at me, and I break down laughing followed by the rest of us.

At the team meeting the next day, I let the team doctor know that I’ll be Geoff’s box during the game and to send for me if I’m needed. Nate lets SportsNet know that he will be he’ll have a special event he has to attend during first intermission and will not be available to do the requisite locker room interview, but there might be something interesting to see if they got a camera in Geoff’s box during that break.

I spend the entire first period in prayer that there aren’t any injuries that take me away from my proud daddy moment. Thankfully there aren’t and when the first period ends, Dylan quiets to the room down, and you could hear a pin drop as a camera crew wanders in.

Brandon and Dylan approach their boyfriends and drop down unto one knee. They uttered the most tear jerking sweet nothings I’ve ever hear before they ask for their mate’s hand in marriage. Connor and Marc both say yes of course. The moment is broadcast all over the Bell Centre and on TV across Canada.

When we get to January this year, we get letters back to McGill regarding the admission of our twins and their spouses to be. All four have been accepted to their respective programs of study. With their future somewhat settled, we have wedding plans to make when the Gally clan announces something we haven’t expected, they found out one of the kids on Alex’s team is in need of an adoptive home and they decide they want to take on the challenge of adopting a teenager. It was refreshing to see them take on the same challenge Nate and I did. I guess we are rubbing off on them.

Their court cases proceeds a little slower than ours due to the kid’s situation, but by the end of February, the Gally household is one person larger after obtaining their placement order. Adoption night at the Canadiens will now be held during the home opener of the following season to accommodate the final adoption order for Brendan and Alex. Our pair of families celebrates with the usual celebratory dinner courtesy of mama Galchenyuk.

The middle of the season is always rough on professional hockey teams and I spend a lot of my time making medication house calls with one of the trainers to many members of the team delivering their pain control and physical therapy. We found out that this combination of treatments lessens the injury time of a player by 2-4 days, getting them back on the ice as quick as possible. The NHL has taken notes on our protocols and we end up having several meetings with player safety, player relations, and just about every general manager around the league.

After dealing with so many of these injuries, I develop a protocol of dealing with pain, sleep, recovery, and nutrition. With the doctor in agreement, we found these are the four pillars of healing. This breakthrough earns me a raise, and a pair of interns to help me train new pharmacists for other teams in the league. The Maple Leafs and Oilers have already agreed to hire the pair of third year pharmacy students in my charge.

By Easter, we finalize a lot of the plans for Connor and Marc’s weddings. They decided to get married together in July, and they want to do it in the church at the fort in Mackinaw City, getting married in period costumes, leaving for their honeymoon afterward on a cross country train journey taking the Canadian westbound spending a couple of nights in Vancouver with the Gallys, then the Empire Builder and Lake Shore Limited back to Buffalo and then to Toronto and home. Nate and I agreed to pay for the whole journey ensuring they both had first class cabins the whole trip.

Valentine’s Day occurs over All-Star break and everyone is home for the weekend. We arrange for grandma Galchenyuk to watch the younger Gally clan for the night so we can go out on a quadruple date. It was a beautiful dinner at the sports bar in the Brossard Center with a 4 on 4 hockey game pitting Alex, Brendan, Connor, and Dylan against Nate, myself, Marc, and Brandon. The whole night was quite jovial and by midnight we were all worn out, the final score of the game could not be determined since we really didn’t keep track though Connor kept telling Marc the score was 20-1 which I know isn’t true, but the competitiveness streak in them was strong that night.

Also by Easter, the Habs’ position as conference champions is confirmed paving their way for home ice advantage in the playoffs. The 2 month period of long days and nights and a travel schedule that never quits for 2 straight months is upon Nate, Brendan and I. Since Alex’s hockey season ended in March with the school earning its first provincial championship in 10 years, he stays home to keep an eye on the whole clan while we are away.

The Habs sweep the Bruins in the first round leaving about a 1 week gap where we get to celebrate all of our May birthdays. Our twins are now adults, a short time from adoption to adulthood, but a good one for all of us. It’s hard to imagine that in a couple of short months, we will be marrying them off to Dylan and Brandon. In the 2 short years they have been dating, their relationships have been through a lot both happy and sad. Through everything though, I know these bonds are solid, relationships that were meant to be permanent.

After reaching the Stanley Cup Finals, PK Subban and Preds have the answer to the Habs astronomical Stanley Cup run, sending the Habs home empty handed after 5 grueling games. Heading home on the team plane, we get in late at night and all I want to do is see my kids again.

By mid-June graduation day arrives for our twins, and at the urging of Connor and Marc we hold their open house at Brossard considering the size of our parties nowadays. The party extends late into the evening. Seeing these boys in the prime of their youth, I’m reminded how old I am.

After we wind down from the party Nate and I along with Alex and Brendan rent out condos in Mackinaw just like we did a couple of summers ago. Jonny and Patrick arrive in town the day after we settle in, practically taking over our guest room. The next morning, we eat a great breakfast that Marc makes for all present and head out to the county courthouse in Petoskey to obtain marriage licenses for Connor to marry Dylan, and Marc to marry Brandon.

We get to the fort on wedding day and we have a very intimate setting planned, the twins and their future spouses are dressed in period soldier costumes with my old friend in a period cloak and wig as the minister for the day. 

Connor and Dylan went first with their vows.  
“Connor, the day I first laid eyes on you at school you had me in a trance. I spent a lot of time thinking of the ways I was going to ask you out, but you were distant. That all changed the day you moved in with Nate and Adam, you changed into a more relaxed soul, one that made me feel comfortable. In the last couple of years, I came to realize that you are my soulmate. We’ve bonded and it’s so strong I never want to let it go. I promise to be by your side, wherever life’s journey takes us.”

“Dylan, the day you asked me out was a day I’ll never forget. The day you were given a #28 jersey was the day I knew you were mine, and the day you asked for my hand to be here today is by far the happiest I have ever been. I promise to be with you wherever life’s journey takes us.”

Nate and I have now consumed half a box of Kleenex each and we’re only half done.

“Marc, you are a born leader and I admire that trait about you. Together we are going to do great things, and I want to do those great things together. I promise that wherever we are in life, we battle on together when life is good and when life is bad, we tackle it together with our never ending love”

Jonny and Pat have now lost it.

“Brandon, you are one of the most caring souls I have ever met. Together I know we are destined for great things. You are my soulmate, and I can’t wait to grow old with you. We will be together through thick and thin, and we battle together with our never ending love.”

The ceremony continues with the ‘I do’s’ and they elect to do unity candles. It was a very lovely ceremony. Since the twins are marrying in the US there is an opportunity to take on the other partner’s last name, and Dylan and Brandon elect to change theirs to Beaulieu.

A long table has been set up in one of the barracks and will hold us for a 1760’s style feast. There is no silverware so it’s apparent our twins are not officers in this particular military, but we did at least find the fiddler to help us dance the night away after a dinner of roasted chickens, potatoes, corn, and cake (the only departure from 1760 we had).

We rest the night away and take the twins to Chippewa County airport for their flight to Toronto the next morning. It’s was almost gut wrenching to let go of them, but they are adults now and it is time for them to fly the nest. We head back to our condo, and it’s quiet, well almost quiet. Jonny and Pat are still here and it sounds like they are having an awesome time in bed. Nate turns to me grinning and slapping my ass. I guess that means he wants to see which couple can be louder.

We won of course, earning lots of chirping from our house guests. 

We get back to Montreal in August, and since the twins have no thoughts on moving out yet, we are now a house of 3 married couples. Dylan has moved into Connor’s room and Brandon into Marcs as they are all attending college together they prefer not to have to rent out an apartment since we are a short metro ride away from campus. At least now we don’t have household shuffle when Nate and I are away on team business.


	9. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I couldn't leave you completely hanging. Here's what happened after the events of the first 8 chapters.

Nate works out the end of contract with SportsNet. After Brendan was name Head Coach of the Canadiens, Nate was immediately named as the Defensive Line Coach and Alex was named as the new Offensive Line Coach. The threesome now make up the majority of the coaching staff joining Carey Price who remains the goaltending coach. 

I continue serving as the team pharmacist for many years a total of 13 years. Nate and I remain married and are living in Montreal during hockey season and in Manitoba during the summers. Now that the entire NHL hosts a pharmacist per team, I no longer have to travel with our team allowing me to teach at McGill more often and Connor and Marc are still hosting their friends Sasha and Brendan when the coaching trio is out of town.

Connor and his husband Dylan remained in Montreal through the college years. Upon graduation, Connor was offered an assistant GM job for the Laval Rockets. Dylan upon graduation ended up working for the Habs as an assistant coach becoming the youngest ever coach in the NHL. Three years after graduation, they adopted two pairs of twins and their family moved out to Laval to watch them grow up. After Brendan, Alex, and Nate retired from hockey, Marc Bergevin announces that he is retiring as well. Connor was promoted to General Manager for the Habs after winning the Calder Cup in Laval 3 years running. During team travel days, their children get to spend time with grandpas Adam and Nate.

Marc ends up becoming an award winning Chef after graduating with honors from McGill. He now owns the sports bar in the Brossard Center as well as opening a club style restaurant on the suite level Bell Centre which offers pub style meals and a ticket to watch the game from a balcony with the package deal running $200 a seat and a seating capacity of 20. The restaurant eventually becomes responsible for catering all the suites in Bell Centre. He also is frequently found making lunch for the Habs team during the season after practices. His husband Brandon gets a job with the Habs working with the trainers on the team. They now have adopted two girls and one boy and moved next door to Dylan and Connor.

Patrick and Jonny end up adopting a pair of teenage boys themselves after their contract ends with SportsNet. They now are retired living at their lake house in Manitoba with their boys. Their boys grow up to become pharmacists in the NHL themselves, one now works for Chicago and the other was my replacement in Montreal upon my final retirement.

We unfortunately lose my dad a few months after our twins graduated from McGill at the age of 72. At my dad’s urging, we celebrated the life he lived and laid him to rest next to my mother in Hanover Township.

About a month after his retirement from hockey, Marc Bergevin suffers a massive heart attack that he ends up not surviving. Connor spends the summer trying to find a way to honor him at the season opener.

As for Sasha and Brendan, not surprisingly they end up in the NHL like their dads. Sasha becomes the captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs and earns the team a long awaited cup. Brendan his brother is his Assistant. They both married after their ELC ends and have adopted a pair of 1 year olds each. The Leafs now hold "Adoption Night" at the last home game before Christmas every year.

As for the Canadiens being the pioneers in having out professional players… well it continues on. Alex, Brendan, Nate, then subsequently Jaakko and Connor (being a GM) pave the way for 23 players coming out of the closet in the NHL becoming the most accepting sport for LGBTQ players. All 23 players, plus those former ones already out of the closet, star in a You Can Play documentary that is played at intermission in every NHL arena at the beginning of every season.


End file.
